The European Union's top court told Poland last month to halt operations at the open-pit lignite mine after Prague complained of environmental damage in nearby Czech villages.
While there's been no suggestion of wrongdoing in this month’s squeeze, the LME has a rich history of wild price moves when markets are over- or undersupplied.
A group of about 2,000 Polish miners has traveled to Luxembourg to protest against the decision of the European Court of Justice to halt production at their lignite mine.
The London copper contract has been sucked into a stocks vacuum after the amount of available metal in warehouse system sank to the lowest since 1974, writes Andy Home.