Vast majority of market players are bearish on SiMn alloy price in December

Chile's central bank reported on September 1 that the July Imacec economic activity index fell 1.5% year-on-year on an unadjusted basis. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the index fell 2.1% year-on-year and 1.7% month-on-month, marking the steepest monthly decline since 2022. The bank attributed the drop mainly to mining, which fell a significant 9.3%, primarily due to weather conditions, followed by lower ore grades and equipment maintenance that disrupted normal production operations. Many of the affected mines are copper-molybdenum associated deposits. Since molybdenum concentrate is recovered as a byproduct of the flotation process used to treat copper sulfide ore, the disruption to processing plants also curtailed molybdenum output.

Northam Platinum said on August 25 that it had received an unsolicited, exploratory and non-binding approach from a major South African platinum group metals (PGM) producer and subsequently initiated a strategic, competitive process to solicit proposals from interested parties. Valterra Platinum is widely understood to be the potential bidder, while Impala Platinum and Sibanye-Stillwater have indicated that they are not interested. Northam has set December 1 as the deadline for interested parties to submit proposals, with any potential transaction potentially taking the form of an asset-level transaction or a corporate transaction. The potential deal also has implications for South Africa's chrome concentrate market, as Northam has rapidly expanded its chrome output from UG2 processing. Northam's FY2026 chrome concentrate production reached a record 1.69 million mt, while its Vision 2031 strategy targets more than 2 million mt of chrome concentrate sales over the next five years. Valterra is also targeting chrome concentrate sales of more than 2 million mt under its growth strategy. A transaction involving the two companies could therefore significantly increase the strategic importance and scale of chrome within a combined PGM portfolio, although the final structure and any impact on chrome production, processing and sales would depend on the outcome of the competitive process.

As August began, the magnesium market appeared trapped in a prolonged stalemate.The production-cut tailwinds from July faded, and primary magnesium supply steadily recovered. Meanwhile, overlapping with the overseas summer lull and the domestic die-casting off-season, downstream orders were scarce and purchasing sentiment hit rock bottom.