Outside China ADC12 Prices Strengthen, Import Losses Deepen Again [Daily Review of ADC12 Prices]

[SMM Express] Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) has brought shaft-inspection work at its flagship Bolashak chrome mine in-house, with the company's own geotechnical team now conducting laser-scanning surveys of the mine's 1,047-metre deep shaft down to a depth of 627 metres, as part of a predictive-maintenance programme announced 2 July 2026. The work, previously outsourced to third-party contractors, feeds into a digital twin model of the shaft designed to monitor structural condition and reduce risk to personnel and production continuity. Bolashak, part of ERG's Donskoy GOK operation and developed across the Millionnoye and Almaz-Zhemchuzhina deposits, has been in operation since late 2024 and is being ramped toward its full design capacity of 7.5 million tonnes of chrome ore per year — a volume that alone exceeds three times South Africa's entire monthly chrome ore export tonnage. The mine already runs on largely automated systems, including remote-controlled smart drilling rigs and a fully automated hoisting system. The shift to in-house, technology-driven shaft monitoring signals that ERG continues to invest in operational sophistication at Bolashak well after its initial commissioning, reinforcing Kazakhstan's position as a increasingly automated, large-scale chrome ore supplier operating independently of the production challenges currently facing South African and Zimbabwean producers.

[SMM Express] Transport-related costs remain an important cost challenge for South Africa's chrome industry. The Minerals Council South Africa said in its latest Mining Input Cost Inflation report that chrome and manganese experienced elevated input-cost inflation in June, largely due to their reliance on transportation networks, particularly road freight, where higher fuel prices have increased operating costs. The pressure comes alongside elevated energy costs, with the Minerals Council noting that higher fuel prices and the full impact of winter electricity tariffs are expected to keep mining input-cost inflation elevated in the coming months. For chrome producers, the combination of fuel-intensive ore transportation and higher power costs could continue to weigh on margins, particularly for operations dependent on longer road-haulage routes to processing plants and export corridors.

[SMM Express] Southern Palladium has secured a 30-year mining right for its Bengwenyama PGM-chrome project on the Eastern Limb of South Africa's Bushveld Complex. The right was granted by the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources on August 7, 2026, marking a key regulatory milestone for the development, which is planned to recover both PGMs and chrome from UG2 ore. The development is particularly relevant to the chrome market following recent metallurgical testwork that lifted expected chromite recovery to 85.6%, from the 30%assumption in the earlier pre-feasibility study, potentially raising chrome concentrate production to about 1.054 million mt/y at the planned Stage 2 expansion. The mining right therefore strengthens the pathway for a future additional chrome supply source from South Africa's Bushveld Complex, although the project remains subject to further development and financing milestones.