The puzzle facing the zinc market is whether demand or supply will fall hardest this year.

Europe's power crisis, production cuts and shortages of aluminum have left consumers in a quandary about Russian supplies of the metal vital for the region's transport, construction and packaging industries.

The LME is already facing lawsuits from Jane Street and Paul Singer’s Elliott Investment Management over its handling of the March nickel crisis.

In total, 1,021 companies filed a conflict-mineral report to the Securities and Exchange Commission last year, the Government Accountability Office said.

A feasibility study for the project is under way and expected to be complete in early 2024. 

Alpha HPA and Cobalt Blue will get about A$15 million each to set up an ultra-pure aluminum chemical plant and a cobalt project, respectively.

Proposals to soften the impact of surging power prices will not shield metals producers from further production cuts and job losses, industry groups say.