Solar developers in the US and Europe are improving Perovskite and tandem efficiency and bringing them into the commercial space. Financial support in the US Inflation Reduction Act and a new package of measures pledged by the European Union last month should help perovskite developers move from pilot to commercial-scale factories.

The UK delayed the decision for Ørsted’s 2.6GW Hornsea Four offshore wind project in the North Sea, 69km off the Yorkshire Coast. The Planning Inspectorate announced that the deadline for the decision on the development consent application has been extended to 12th July from 22nd February.

Southeast Asia is a region with enduring potential for the LNG market. Massive demand growth prospects and rapidly developing industrial sectors promise to increase demand for energy and natural gas. LNG provides an opportunity that the southern nations have seized upon to develop the sector. However, the region’s interests could be served by a collaborative effort to develop the LNG sector.

US refiners are operating at the highest operating rate since before the pandemic, but they are not expected to bring relief to the tight fuel market through major capacity expansions in the short term.

The US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law in August 2022, aims to restrain inflation rates while pushing for domestic clean energy development. A total of US$369bn has been allocated to climate solutions. A US$7,500 tax credit will be granted to consumers when they purchase a new EV.

Since the Biden administration approved the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in mid-2022, companies have announced an estimated US$35bn of investment in the domestic EV supply chain. The IRA is undoubtedly boosting local manufacturing of batteries and electric vehicles through generous tax incentives.

The US is making massive federal investments to build up a domestic supply chain for batteries and EVs. Last year’s Inflation Reduction Act lays out US$370bn in climate spending over a decade. US states and localities have also promised EV-related companies nearly US$14bn in subsidies as of October 2022.

Newmont’s US$17bn offer for Newcrest last month has lifted expectations of a new wave of consolidation, particularly at the big end of the gold sector. While the US miner’s all-share offer was unanimously rejected by its Australian rival’s board, the world’s largest gold miner will now gain access to non-public information to allow it to decide whether to make an improved bid.

China Baowu Group, the world’s largest steelmaker, produced 132Mt of crude steel in 2022, up 10% year on year. The company has been restructuring in recent years with the aim of producing 200Mt of crude steel by 2025, accounting for 15% of the global market.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 rattled the global energy markets, as Russia dominated the global oil and gas industry for decades prior to the invasion. One year on, what’s been the impact on Russia’s exports?

The main use of zinc is galvanising steel…but what other end uses does zinc have? While zinc is most commonly, around 60%, used as a protective coating for steel to prevent rusting, it has many other critical uses.

The global hydrogen energy demand is expected to more than double from 1,200TWh this year to 2,800TWh by 2030. The numbers of countries with supportive policies for hydrogen technologies is rising and the global hydrogen demand will be reach 6,500TWh by 2050.

The acceleration of the global energy transition has led to growing pressure for mining companies to divest from coal mining assets. Pressure to dissociate from coal extraction has now begun to extend beyond the abandonment of thermal coal operations to include metallurgical coal. This pressure has mostly affected diversified miners.

Coal companies in Australia are still feeling the ripple effects of the war on Ukraine, as the New South Wales (NSW) State Government announces a Coal Reservation policy requiring NSW coal producers to put aside a portion of quarterly productions for domestic power plants.

Rising aluminium demand is driving up the entire value chain. China lays at the centre of aluminium and alumina production, which makes it the predominant player when it comes to capacity and production developments. Yet, with limited domestic supplies, China must reach out to international markets to meet the demand for bauxite, the feed material of the industry.

Steel producers are looking to realise their decarbonisation plans by increasing steel scrap usage. In recent times, major steel producers have acquired steel scrap recycling companies to secure a reliable source of metallics raw material input. Steel scrap is the silver bullet to steel producers offering a solution for decarbonisation in both BF/BOF and EAF operations for the production of green steel.

The average grade of copper ore mined has declined by 1.6% per year over the past 17 years from 0.75% in 2005 to 0.57% in 2022. The fall is due to declining grades at some of the largest, long-life mines and the development of new low-grade mines. The declining grade trend will continue because of the same two factors.

Europe has targeted a reduction of net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, from 1990 levels. Consequently, steel producers in Europe will lead the green steel transition with a signification number of companies deciding to implement Carbon Direct Avoidance. This means shutting down existing BF/BOF and investing in EAF and DRI steelmaking technology.

The Australian thermal coal sector has been rocked by a series of recent developments. AME forecasts that Australia will export 213Mt of thermal coal in 2023, up by 11% from 2022 levels. Production will be supported by the restart of New Acland and Dartbrook coal mines and more favourable weather.

AME forecasts hydrogen demand in North America will reach up to 43Mtpa by 2030 and 156Mtpa by 2050. This is 1.7 and 6 times respectively that of current demand in the region and ~25% of global hydrogen demand in 2050.

Investment in gas and LNG from the Middle East and North Africa will expand rapidly out to 2030, but will remain focused on existing suppliers unless significant political shifts are achieved.

AME expects that demand for coal will significantly improve in the new year with China prepared to lift a two-year old unofficial ban on Australian coal imports. The Chinese government essentially banned Australian coal imports in early October 2020 and has only allowed customs clearance for Australian coal loaded on vessels during China's energy crisis in late 2021.

As China emerges from the pandemic determined to stabilise its economy, state-owned steel giant Baowu Group has been given the green light by Beijing to ensure that first production by 2025 becomes a reality. In December 2022, Baowu agreed terms with joint venture partners including Rio Tinto on developing infrastructure for the Simandou iron ore project.

Europe is the second largest finished demand source after Asia, contributing to ~9.1% of global demand. In 2022, it is forecast to consume 261kt of nickel. Soaring energy prices in the region has greatly reduced stainless-steel production.

We expect global EV sales to reach 13.6m in 2023, rising 26% from an estimated 10.8m in 2022. By 2025, we expect sales to reach 19.8m, reaching a market share of 22%. There are now almost 30m EVs on the road, up from just 10m at the end of 2020. The market share of electric cars has also tripled since 2020, reaching 13% last year.

Total renewable energy capacity in the United States is set to expand to 470GW by the end of 2023, producing 1100TWh of clean energy, 7% higher than last year.

China has seen fast growth in its copper smelting capacity in the last decade, with its primary smelting output doubling to 8.4Mt in 2022 from 4.2Mt in 2013. China will remain the global centre of primary smelters; however, its growth rate will slow. AME forecasts Chinese primary smelters' consumption of copper in concentrate to grow at a CAGR of 1.6% in the next five years, to reach 9,261kt in 2027. This is much lower than the CAGR of 4.8% seen in the past five years.

AME’s 2022 full year forecast for Germany’s natural gas demand is 207MMcmpd, a substantial 16% drop year on year. In 2023, demand is forecast to decline a further 7% to 195MMcmpd. Natural gas consumption in Germany decreased in the December quarter with the Nord Stream 1 pipeline still closed and supplies via other routes heavily restricted.

Lithium miners are rushing to Canada to take advantage of the mining-friendly jurisdiction. Under its Critical Minerals Strategy, Canada will fast-track the development of critical minerals production, which includes lithium and other battery metals. Canada’s lithium supply is expected to reach 54kt LCE in 2023.

Around 85% of all lead produced goes into lead-acid batteries. Despite having been in use for over 160 years, the lead-acid battery is nevertheless widely used and is still a growing market. While lithium-ion batteries are increasingly replacing traditional lead-ion batteries, in some applications there remains a need for the humble lead-acid battery.

As the economy around the world continued to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine created global uncertainty, which drove a rally in gold prices. During the first quarter of the year, the precious metal was set for its best performance since August 2020 when prices were over US$2,000/oz. But gold lost some of those early gains as investors shifted focus to monetary policy and higher bond yields.

The price of nickel was wildly volatile in 2022, with the European spot price surging to an unprecedented intraday US$100,000/t in March. The price was then capped at US$45,721/t, and trading was forcibly suspended on the LME for nine days as the market recovered.

The abrupt turmoil to Russian gas exports to Europe following the invasion of Ukraine has distorted the dynamics of energy supply trade in 2022. Supply chain disruptions related to the Covid-19 pandemic, labour shortages and severe rainfall have resulted in an unprecedented estimated global deficit of -42Mt of thermal coal in 2022.

Through 2022, aluminium markets have been affected by significant events in both Europe and China. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine generated uncertainty for supply coming from the second largest producing country along with its flow-on impact on global energy markets. Energy rationing in China affected production from the largest producing country early in the year while its continued pursuit of a zero-covid policy crimped demand.

The year 2022 saw serious turbulence in health policy, the energy market and global diplomacy. Lockdowns in China to mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine upset energy markets as sanctions and supply cuts attempted to find a balance with industry shutdowns and reduced demand.

AME‘s iron ore 62% spot price averaged US$122/t over 2022, a decrease of 24% from US$161/t in 2021. The 65% and 58% iron ore spot price averaged US$139/t and US$94/t in 2021, down by 25% and 26% year on year, respectively.

The copper price started 2022 at around US$9,700/t, increasing slowly over the first three months, with the monthly average AME Europe copper prices increasing to US$10,272/t in March.

The lithium market had an action-packed year in 2022, after a busy period in 2021 that saw lithium prices more than triple. At the start of 2022, Chinese lithium carbonate prices started trading at around the US$40,000/t mark, up over 400% since January 2021.

The year 2022 brought global economic growth following the 2021 Covid-19 caused downturn, largely tied to the development and global distribution of Covid-19 vaccines. High energy prices and supply chain pressures spurred record-high inflation and a growing energy crunch.

The average US price for HRC decreased significantly during the 11 months to November, ending at US$664/t, down 58% since the beginning of the year. In the same period, HRC prices in Europe, China and Asia followed the same trend and ended at US$647/t, down 37.4%; US$471/t, down 30.8%; and US$545/t, down 33.9%, respectively.

Even as the global economic outlook turned increasingly gloomy this year, electric vehicles continued to shine. We expect global EV sales to reach 10.9m in 2022, taking a market share of 13%. That’s up from 6.6m in 2021, and just 3.1m in 2020.

Metallurgical coal prices were unpredictable in 2022, with the Russia-Ukraine war causing massive disruptions to the market. Prices peaked at US$600/t and reached a low at US$200/t during the year. The year also marked the first time that thermal coal prices overtook metallurgical coal prices, trading at a significant premium. This has seen product switching of the two, adding more eccentricity in the market.

The year 2022 proved a challenging year for the lead, and particularly, the zinc industry. Coming into the year, prices were at an all-time high with the European zinc spot price sitting at US$3,610/t. This was down to smelter curbs arising from surging energy costs in Europe. While initially optimistic the situation would resolve during 2022, the global landscape and world events had other ideas.

In 2018, Ghana’s gold output of 4.8Moz surpassed South Africa’s 4.1Moz for the first time to make the country Africa’s largest gold producer—a position it has held ever since. Gold production from Ghana is expected to be 4.3Moz in 2022, up 8% from 4.1Moz in 2021.

AME’s finished steel demand forecast for India is 114Mt in 2022 and 119Mt in 2023, up 7% and 5%, respectively, year on year. Due to its population size, India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

Despite being the third largest producer of export metallurgical coal, the United States has always been known as the “swing producer”. High-cost US producers have felt the impact of declining coal prices and have been particularly susceptible to any oversupply in the market.

Clean energy investment is expected to exceed US$1.4tn in 2022, following a 12% annual growth in 2021. However, limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius requires an estimate of over US$4tn in annual clean-energy investment.

Despite being the fifth largest primary aluminium demand country, Japan no longer possesses any domestic production capacity. As such, the country is dependent on imports to meet its requirements.

A growing EV market is driving the growth of the batteries market, which in turn fuels finished nickel demand. In 2022 demand for battery-grade nickel is forecast to be 290kt. Many auto manufacturers want ‘clean’ nickel to justify the production of EVs for the energy transition.

The beginning of 2022 saw the European gas market change irrevocably. The collapse of Russian gas exports to Europe has left the continent without sufficient supply – short over 100bcm of gas flow - and governments have been scrambling to find a way to keep the lights on and the heaters working for the 2022-23 winter.

Brazil is expected to produce a total of 373Mt of iron ore in 2022, down 4.8% year on year, primarily due to bad weather seen during the March Quarter. Production will grow significantly to 536Mt in 2040.

Peru holds reserves of 87Mt of contained copper, accounting for 10% of the world’s total reserves, ranking second globally. Peru is also the world’s second-largest producer of copper concentrate, producing approximately 13% of the total global copper concentrate supply.

2022 has been an eventful year for both the nuclear industry and uranium market. Global sentiment towards nuclear power started a shift in 2021 and continued to improve over 2022.

Refining profits surged globally this year on fears of a potential gasoil shortage, as buyers avoided Russian supplies despite soaring feedstock costs elsewhere. AME’s full year 2022 forecast for the global average crack spread price is US$51/bbl.

Steel production accounts for 8-10% of total global CO2 emission. It has been estimated zero-CO2 emission steel production can be achieved by 2050 with investment of ~US$280bn. This includes capacity enhancement and low emission retrofitting.

AME expects lithium supply from the US to remain at 5kt LCE for 2022 and 2023, with new projects starting to come online in 2024. Over the medium term, lithium supply is expected to grow at a CAGR of 55% to reach 45kt LCE in 2027.

Europe may be closer than ever to breaking its energy dependence on Russia, but in the short term it still can’t live without one type of Russian natural gas. While Russian exports of natural gas carried via pipelines to Europe have fallen sharply since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, imports of Russian LNG, have risen.

South Korea is home to the world’s largest zinc smelter, the Korea Zinc-owned Onsan smelter. The contributions from this smelter make South Korea the second-largest global supplier of finished zinc.

India is at the frontline of global climate action as one of the top countries in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission production and its goal of achieving net zero by 2070. India has already reached almost 42GW of on-grid and off-grid onshore wind capacity in 2022, making it the fourth largest installed global wind market after China, United States of America, and Germany.

The global energy transition continues to drive EV demand, which in turn fuels battery-grade nickel demand. AME is forecasting EV sales to be 10.5m in 2022, which will increase to 14.9m in 2024. The EV market share will also increase from 13% in 2022 to 17% in 2024.

AME forecasts that iron ore demand from India will recover in 2022 to 188Mt, up 4%, as the government looks to maintain industrial output at all costs. The country is currently the second-largest consumer of iron ore after China, accounting for 8.3% of global demand in 2022.

G7 nations have made a US$10bn offer to help Indonesia to accelerate it coal phase out, with the US and Japan taking the lead in the negotiations. The new partnership is expected to be unveiled during the upcoming COP27 UN climate conference in Egypt. The cash offers are a combination of public and private finance as well as technical assistance, which aims for Indonesia to peak emissions in the power sector by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050-2055.

The Middle East is positioning itself as a major low carbon energy provider. Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE and Egypt have taken big steps towards the hydrogen economy.

Gold production in Canada is expected to increase by 3% to 6.55Moz in 2022, from 6.37Moz delivered in 2021. Over the medium term, the country is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.3% to reach 8.5Moz in 2027. This growth will be helped by the commencement of new projects, including Magino, Greenstone, Blackwater, Côte Gold and the Coffee projects.

AME’s crude steel production forecast for Japan is 95.5Mt in 2022, up 4% year on year. Japan is ranked number three for global crude steel production, surpassed only by China and India. In 2022, Japan expects to produce 4.7% of total global crude steel production, down from 2010 when it produced 7.6% of global output.

Brine projects from the lithium triangle – Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile – make up about a third of global lithium supply. Supply from South America is expected to increase significantly over the next few years, especially in Argentina which has the world’s biggest pipeline of lithium projects.

The United States’ continues its ascension into position as the globe’s leading LNG exporter. Partly, this is fueled by very cheap shale gas supply and vast reserves, and partly by a sudden need for a new gas supplier in Europe.

Australia is hedging its bets on domestic lithium refining, with several new lithium hydroxide converter plants commissioned or under construction. Lithium is expected to become one of Australia’s most valuable export products, after iron ore, coal, and LNG.

AME expects US demand for refined copper to grow 1.4% in 2022 to 1,797kt, before expanding another 1.5% in 2023 to 1,824kt. Our current forecasts are down from our previous forecast of a 2.7% increase in 2022 to 1,820kt, before expanding another 3.2% in 2023 to 1,878kt.

Canada is in a unique position in which it exports almost all of its domestically produced steel raw materials and imports pellets, coke, and coal from the US to satisfy most of its steelmaking needs. Canada’s iron ore supply is expected to reach 60Mt in 2022, up from 58.3Mt in 2021.

AME’s crude steel production forecast for Germany in 2022 is 40.9Mt up 1.7% year on year. Although no major crude steel capacity expansions are planned in the short and medium term there will be significant investment towards the green steel transition.

A quixotic Covid-zero strategy and the housing market crisis have slowed down China’s economy behind the rest of the Asia-Pacific region for the first time in more than three decades. However, China’s power generation has surged by 2.5% on the year to 5.6tn kWh in the first eight months of 2022.

China’s reign as the ruler of demand continues to expand as the world shifts towards renewable energy, fuelling the China dominated stainless-steel and battery industries. The country is responsible for 56% of global finished demand and 24% of mined demand.

Recently, hydrogen accounts for less than 2% of Europe’s current energy consumption and used mainly in chemical industries such as oil refining, ammonia, methanol and steel production. The current hydrogen production mainly comes from natural gas which results in CO2 emission.

The future of nickel needs to be green. Nickel processing currently contributes to 0.27% of global emissions. With demand coming from the battery sector to fuel the energy transition, supply needs to keep up in terms of carbon and ESG requirements.

Despite US economic activity reversing 2020’s drop in coal demand, the fundamental decline in the US coal mining sector has been mainly driven by the fracking revolution that drove down natural gas prices. This factor has significantly reduced the country’s coal-fired generation demand, with over 130GW of coal-fired capacity retired in the last decade.

Solid-state batteries (ASSBs) promising longer driving range, faster charging, and safer chemistry are almost here—but producing them on the scale needed to power millions of EVs won’t be easy.

China’s refined copper demand is expected to marginally decrease by 0.3% to 13,884kt in 2022. This is mainly driven by the softer-than-expected demand in the first half resulting from the Covid lockdowns, coupled with the drop in the country’s building sector.

In the midst of the Energiewende (energy transition), Germany still relies heavily on imports of fossil fuels as its domestic resources are largely depleted or their extraction is too costly.

The European Council has agreed on more ambitious targets for renewable energies. Under the “Fit for 55” package, the EU targets a net reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission by 55% by 2030. Fit for 55 will help the EU stay on track for its 2050 target of achieving climate neutrality.

Indonesia is experiencing the fastest demand growth for both mined and finished nickel. Finished nickel demand surged from virtually zero in 2016 to almost 400kt within five years. While mined demand also saw a massive jump since the 2020 ore export ban.

Chinese steelmakers will be required to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030, the authorities announced in February 2022. The joint industry guideline was released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE).

Since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict and the sanctions placed on Russia, Germany has been rapidly moving away from reliance on Russian pipeline gas. The nation’s federal energy agency, the Bundesnetzagentur, denied the approval of the US$1.2bn Nord Stream 2 project at the final stage after the pipeline completed.

Mozambique was once expected to be the next big player on the global metallurgical coal market Metallurgical coal exports were expected to reach 40Mtpa, making Mozambique the third largest supplier of the metallurgical coal.

Germany has pledged to reach net zero by 2045 and has committed to a 65% emissions reduction below 1990 levels by 2030. The country has confirmed the 2030 coal exit date and stated plans to set a EUR60/t floor price for CO2.

Historical US primary aluminium production peaked at 4.7Mtpa in 1980 and accounted for around 30% of global supply. Since the peak, production has dramatically declined, with 2022 production currently forecast at 0.92Mt and ~1.3% of global production.

AME’s finished steel demand forecast for Vietnam in 2022 is 26.5Mt, up 5% year on year. Vietnam’s steel consuming industry is significantly skewed towards construction represent 93% of total finished steel demand. While other main industries of shipbuilding and automotive account for 4% and 2%, respectively of total finished demand.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) approaches have fundamentally restructured financial investment over the past 20 years. However, the effectiveness of ESG approaches is difficult to measure, hampered by a lack of strict, regulated, and unifying disclosure framework. Accusations of ‘greenwashing’ – claiming an ESG approach without any meaningful action, have become more frequent.

The Earth recorded its highest ever daily average atmospheric CO2 concentration in May 2022. The Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the University of California reported 421.37ppm, compared to 418.95ppm in May 2021.

The production of aluminium is an energy intensive process—so much so it is sometimes referred to as ‘solidified energy’. Carbon emissions are produced in aluminium smelting from the required electricity generation, along with the direct emissions from the reduction of alumina with a carbon anode.

LNG has a crucial role in the energy transition as a transportable, highly versatile fuel. The increasing use of LNG is needed to feed the world’s demand for energy. However, LNG is classified as a fossil fuel, and environmental concerns surround its use. The solution then, is to make LNG in an environmentally friendly manner. But how?

Copper will continue to play a vital role for the global transition to electrification and net-zero emissions. It is a crucial component in renewable energy systems due to its properties, including conductivity, ductility, thermal efficiency, and recyclability.

Australia, the world’s largest producer of hard-rock lithium spodumene, is accelerating lithium projects amid increasing market tightness, which has fuelled strong price momentum over the last 12 months.

The world’s transition from fossil fuels into renewable energy has fuelled the expansion of the electric vehicles market. In 2021 alone, a total of 6.6 million EV cars were sold worldwide. This is more than double the number of sales from the previous year.

Once upon a time, Europe was on its gallant path towards decarbonization, clearly departing from coal to procure cleaner sources of energy. However, a global pandemic, record high gas prices and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have created the perfect conditions for the renaissance of coal in Europe’s energy generation.

South America continues to dominate the world’s copper concentrate supply. Chile is forecast to produce 4.40Mt of copper in concentrate in 2022, up 4.6% from 4.21Mt in 2021.

With gold prices hitting record highs and the rising demand over the last year, it is essential to picture the upcoming projects that will contribute to the next development phase. As post-pandemic demand for gold picks up, the metal proves its worth as a hard store of value when money supply is high, increasing expectations for the industry.

There are two process routes for producing finished zinc: electrolytic and smelting. Both require large amounts of energy to produce the finished product. Around 90% of global zinc production is produced via the electrolytic process.

Japan’s crude steel production is ranked number three in term of global production, surpassed only by China and India. Prior to the pandemic Japan’s average crude steel production was 109Mt per year from 2005 to 2018, with production peaking at 120Mt in 2007. Japan’s domestic steel demand is expected to level out due to the declining population and increased protectionism as Japanese customers seek to increase local steel production.

Investments in new coal mining projects are being taking into consideration in several countries. Despite the current high coal prices, acceleration in announced or under construction projects are subject to environmental, social and governance considerations, particularly as an increasing number of countries pledge to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Since late 2019, China has been hoovering up aluminium to feed its apparently insatiable appetite from its downstream products sector. This has been partially spurred by the rapid bounce-back from the initial Covid-19 lockdowns, along with the country’s increasing difficulties powering ever-expanding primary production capacity amid the imposition of energy efficiency targets.

The Ukraine crisis has led to unprecedented economic sanctions on both individuals and Russia as a nation. While the current tightness in the energy market is putting pressure on European nations to continue purchasing Russian gas, announcements are already being made to ensure movement away from reliance upon Russian gas. Important to note is that companies are not being sanctioned, but rather the west is self-sanctioning on moral grounds.

Higher natural gas and coal prices in the long-term could mean a shortage of ammonia and urea as prices reach levels high enough to cause shutdowns in plants in Europe. While the world is not likely to see a height of the JKM’s US$48/MMBtu for gas again any time soon as the spectre of the most recent energy crisis is going to loom for some time.

European importers of Russian crude oil face big challenges if they want to continue buying Urals crude or refined products. A growing number of European companies across the energy and shipping sectors are making statements of intent to reduce or halt exposure to Russian oil and/or shipping. But in doing so, what are the substitutes?

On the 8th of March 2022, the three-month nickel price suddenly soared to an unprecedented US$100,000/t on the London Metals Exchange (LME). This was more than double its closing price of US$42,995/t from the previous day. The sudden price movement saw the LME suspend trading of the contract.

Direct reduced iron (DRI) supply is expanding across the global steel industry. The accelerating move towards reducing carbon emissions, and the increase in the capacity of DRI modules have renewed interest across the sector.

Countries in the Americas are looking to bring new lithium projects online to capitalise on soaring demand growth for lithium-ion batteries as global decarbonisation efforts ramp up. In the Americas, AME estimates that 315,386t of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) production capacity will come online from new sites between 2022 and 2024.

The EU has set a goal of a 55% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 (compared to 1990) and net zero carbon emissions by 2050. A key part of achieving these goals is the European Union Emissions Trading System launched in 2005.

The CIS is expected to produce 204Mt of iron ore in 2022, up 1.8% year on year, despite the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The iron ore production in the region comes mainly from three countries: Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Particularly, Russia accounts for an estimated 4.5% of the global iron ore, while Ukraine has a 3% share.

Although Canada is currently one the most important metallurgical coal suppliers in the global market, in 1976 the province of Alberta established a policy for the development of its coal resources based on the principle that the people of Alberta own this resource.

Despite the global focus on phasing down unabated coal, thermal coal remains a reliable and abundant source of energy for Southeast and South Asian countries.

Increasing awareness and activity relating to greenhouse gas emissions have seen companies start to burnish their green/environmental responsibility credentials.

Over the last decade, LNG has become a favoured method of transporting energy, circumventing the need for long, expensive pipelines and enabling energy transport even between distant nations.

The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has seen rising concerns about a copper supply shortage, as Russia is one of the world’s major copper producers and exporters.

Automakers and battery suppliers are racing to develop the next generation of batteries that are cheaper, more powerful and charge faster.

Oil prices surged to the highest since 2014 this month, partly fuelled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Any scenario in which westbound flows from the world’s second-largest crude exporter slump would have a significant impact on what is an already tight oil market.

There has been an increasing push for sustainability in the mining industry in recent years, and investors and companies alike have started to rely on and emphasise Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors as part of their evaluation of operational performance.

An invasion into the Ukraine by Russian troops on 24th February 2022 has not yet resulted in a loss of oil supply to the market. Prices nevertheless surged by US$8/bbl to US$105/bbl following the news, on expectations that sanctions against Russia would cripple energy exports.

Climate change and carbon emissions are the most prominent ESG issues facing the zinc industry, but there is also a strong focus on other environmental issues, including air and water pollution, waste management and water scarcity. Social issues include issues such as employment diversity and equal opportunity.

The economic fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is creating challenges for the country’s gold miners, even as the gold price has jumped, as sanctions wipe out billions of dollars of investment in the country.