Steel News Roundup

SHANGHAI, Jan 18 (SMM) — This is a roundup of news in the steel industry for last week.

Mines in Xinzhou received notice of ban on explosives supply

It was rumoured that Xinzhou city would halt explosives supply from January 15 on environmental concerns for the 14th Five-Year Conference. Explosives supply used to be halted for around 20 days during the Chinese New Year (CNY) period in past years.  Xinzhou is the main iron ore concentrate producing region in Shanxi, with production totalling 16 million mt in 2020.

A few mines received telephone notice to stop mining and explosives supply from January 15, but their concentrate production will be unaffected as they have 45-60 days of ROM stockpiles. Although most mines have not received such notice, beneficiation plants are already increasing their ROM inventory as they worry that the rumour may be true and as migrant workers in Dai county usually return home for CNY for a month.

ROM supply in Xinzhou has been tight in recent months. Some beneficiation plants will have to shut down soon due to ROM shortages, which will lower concentrate production in Shanxi in January and February.

SMM will also continue to track whether other mines in Dai county will receive notification of explosives restrictions in the near future.

Mines in Linfen have closed on halted explosives supply

Mines in Xiangfen county, Linfen city shut down for safety checks in the wake of collapse of a local mine on August 29, 2020. Mines began to resume production at the end of October after they passed government checks. Mines closed for a few days in December for explosives checks, but quickly resumed production.

On January 7, Linfen issued a written notice to suspend blasting operations in the city. On January 13, explosives supply was halted again and will not resume until after CNY SMM survey found that mines in Linfen have shut down on January 14 and beneficiation plants will also stop production due to insufficient ROM. The relatively strict restrictions in Linfen may be related to the frequent occurrence of mine accidents in recent years.

Only a few mines in Xiangfen are producing this year, while mines in Fushan have been closed for a long time. Mines in Xiangfen have a combined annual capacity of 1.5 million mt of iron ore concentrates, and their output in 2020 stood at 800,000 mt, which had little impact on total supply in Shanxi.

Shandong: Underground iron ore mines in parts of Shandong stopped production following explosion of Wucailong gold mine

On January 10, an explosion occurred at the Wucailong gold mine in Qixia city, Shandong.

In the wake of the accident, some mines in Linyi and Zibo received verbal notice to halt underground mining and all explosives have were sealed. A state-owned mine in Linyi, which has a monthly output of 100,000 mt of iron ore concentrates, suspended production on January 13 as it has run out of ROM after explosives supply was halted. Other mines in Linyi said they have not received notice of stopping production and remained in normal production.

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