Nippon Steel Vice Chairman Takahiro Mori returned to the US in an effort to close the deal amid growing regulatory scrutiny and political opposition.

After surging to a record above $2,450 an ounce, bullion has traded in a fairly narrow range amid the uncertainty over the Fed’s rate trajectory.

The Copper World mine is expected to produce about 92,000 tonnes of the metal a year for the first decade of its anticipated 20-year life.

The qualification testing is an important aspect of the MOU signed earlier with C4V for a potential manganese offtake deal.

The miner said it generated lower sales through the ramp-up process in Q4 than previously anticipated, which impacted its financing requirements.

Tom Palmer pointed to artificial intelligence as a surprisingly large new source of copper demand.