Li-FT secures mystery lithium investor
Li-FT Power has Canada’s third-largest hard rock lithium resource.
Zinc surged to a 20-month intraday high as major producer Teck Resources Ltd. lowered output targets following a fire at its Canadian smelter, stoking anxiety about supply after a string of mine disruptions.
Three-month futures jumped as much as 4.5% to $3,284 a ton on the London Metal Exchange. Teck said refined zinc production this year may be as much as 12% lower than previously expected due to a localized fire at its Trail smelter in September.
The 40,000-ton cut to its guidance is small in the context of the 14 million-ton global market but comes during a time of heightened concerns.
Zinc futures traded 1.54 higher at $3,188 a ton at 10:24 a.m. local time on the LME. Prices pared earlier gains after readily available zinc inventories tracked by the LME rose 4.8%, the most in a month.
Zinc has rallied by a fifth this year following several disruptions to mine output, making it the No. 2 performer among the exchange’s six main metals. Reflecting the supply tightness, cash contracts have swung sharply during the past week to a significant premium over three-month futures.
That structure — known as backwardation — implies spot demand is running ahead of supply. The spread between the two contracts reached $60.50 a ton Thursday, the highest in more than two years.
LME data also shows individual entities recently buying large volumes of inventory and zinc futures expiring next month.
Despite tepid Chinese consumption and a still-uncertain global economy, supply bottlenecks have emerged this year to rattle several metals. Copper smelters are struggling because there isn’t enough ore to go around, and aluminum has gained as prices for its key input material, alumina, shoot higher.
Among other metals, aluminum rose as much as 1.7% to $2,715 a ton, the highest intraday price since May, and copper gained 0.8%.
Read More: Zinc market tightens as mine supply disruptions rattle buyers
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