Regent Street, London. Photo by Tomas Marek at Chuttlestock
Dear MMTA Members and colleagues,
Welcome to your September and LME Week edition of the MMTA’s magazine, The Crucible.
LME Week 2024
The LME Week 2024 kicks off on Monday 30th September with the LME Metals Seminar and is packed full of information and networking events over the first week of October, including those held by the MMTA and its members,
See the industry events section for the LME Week 2024 What’s On Guide
MMTA Events during the LME Week are held on Tuesday 1st October. We look forward to welcoming you a the MMTA 51st Anniversary Dinner at De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden. Registration is at 7pm, with a drinks reception sponsored by Environmetals, followed by the black tie dinner, with a bar open until 1am. For any further information, please contact us at admin@mmta.co.uk.
Events at the Royal Society of Chemistry
In the morning of Tuesday 1st October, MMTA member Lipmann Walton is holding an event at the RSC to celebrate rhenium’s first 99 years. Professor Martyn Poliakoff will launch a new periodic video about Rhenium; Anthony Lipmann will be talking about Ida Tacke, the woman who discovered rhenium; producers and recyclers will be looking at how rhenium units find their way to the market; and Lilia Shepel of Lipmann Walton will be telling the story of attempts to get rhenium out of a volcano. If you would like to attend, please contact Lipmann Walton on lipmann@lipmann.co.uk to see if there are spaces.
the afternoon, MMTA and critical materials consultancy Project Blue would like to welcome you the Critical Materials Forum London, also at the RSC. Registration is at 1.30pm, and the seminar and panel session from 2-4pm will be followed by Project Blue networking drinks. This event is now fully booked – please check your registration confirmation. The Royal Society of Chemstry is a 22 minute walk or a 12 minute taxi ride away from the MMTA Anniversary Dinner venue. We look forward to seeing you in London in LME Week.
In this issue: Antimony export restrictions and more
As previously reported, on 15th August, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced new restrictions on exports of antimony, citing national security and non-proliferation. On 15th September this measure came into effect, in the form of export licences. As exporters had rushed to beat that dead-line, reports were emerging that Chinese customs were pre-emptively blocking shipments. Read Argus Media’s report on the impact of export licencing on the antimony market.
Also in this issue, Fastmarkets looks at the state of play in cobalt sulfate as it launches its new report. Benchmark Minerals share their long-term outlook for battery metals. S & P Global makes sense of the moly market as it takes is cue from China, while CPM starts a conversation on how to price long-term contracts in the rest of the world and why it’s time to notice niobium. Join Tom Butcher on a journey further into space, with nuclear propulsion.
US goes ahead with new Section 301 tariffs
Following our coverage in August of the Office of US Trade Representative’s (USTR) consultation, on 13th September the USTR announced that the proposed US Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports will go ahead, including 25% on some critical minerals and 100% on EVs. The tariffs on commodities listed in the “Other Critical Minerals” category are all set at 25% and will be introduced in 2024. Read the full Federal Register Notice HERE.
These commodities include ores and concentrates of manganese, cobalt, chromium and tungsten; tungsten oxides, tungstates, carbides and powders; unwrought tantalum, chromium and indium including their powders: ferronickel, ferroniobium (max. 0.02% P or S, max 0.4% Si); and tin alloys, among others. The 25% tariff applies on these imports entered into the US or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 27th September 2024. From 1st January 2026 the 25% tariff also applies to rare earth permanent magnets (HTSUS 8505.11.00). Discussion are afoot about further potential tariffs on tungsten bar, and we’ll update you as they progress. The 2025 and 2026 new tariffs apply on imports from 1s January of that year, but on some solar equipment (Annex B) they apply retroactively from 2024.
More EV import tariffs to come?
As this Crucible issue went to press, on 25th September EU members were due to vote on a proposal to impose a 35.3% tariff on Chinese made electric vehicles on top of the existing 10% car import tariff. If approved, they would come into effect in October. As tough China-EU talks continue, watch this space.
