Iron ore price

A little reality is creeping into the local idiot market today with BHP and RIO slammed -2.5% and FMG hit -5%: Dalian is up three points during the day so the damage would be much worse without Samarco.

From The Australian: Mining giants BHP Billiton and Vale will be held accountable for a deadly dam rupture at an iron ore mine in Brazil and face immediate fines of about $US66 million, says President Dilma Rousseff.

With oil tanking last night and headed for $40, the mining GFC has returned with a vengeance as mining credit spreads surge, equity is crushed and, increasingly, the mess delivers nasty damage to wider equity as well.

Here are the iron ore price charts for November 12, 2015: Spot at new lows.

From Macquarie: Following the Samarco tragedy in Brazil, which has removed 30mtpa of iron ore (pellet) supply from the market, Vale released a statement saying that production at its own Fabrica Nova / Timbopeba operations in the Southeastern mining complex nearby may be negatively impacted, by 3mt in 2015 and 9mt in 2016.

Here are the iron ore price updates for November 11, 2015: Spot OK with Tianjin flat again at $47.70.

From Dumbfax: Meet the one analyst who’s brave enough to slap a sell recommendation on hallowed blue chip BHP Billiton.

From the AFR: BHP has said it is still too early to say what caused the tragedy and there has been speculation that there may have been some sort of seismic event.

From FMG this just now: Sensible enough.

From the BBC: Brazilian mining company Samarco has had its mining licence suspended after two dams it used to hold waste water from iron ore collapsed.

Big iron is hoping again today, this time for Samarco deliverance, instead of looking just beyond that to prices that are going to sink and sink.

From Macquarie: The tragic and catastrophic dam failures at Samarco’s Minas Gerais operation on Thursday are a reminder that no matter how bad market fundamentals may be, there are things which are much more important.

Here are the iron ore charts for November 9, 2015: Qingdao firmed and Tianjin benchmark more so up 0.6% to 47.70.

From Bloomberg: Iron ore will probably hold near $50 a metric ton by year-end rather than tumble to $40 as supply disruption at a venture owned by the world’s largest miners may boost prices, according to Citigroup Inc.

Big iron is copping it today, finally.

Here are the iron ore price charts for November 9, 2015: Qingdao spot keeps falling.

The big iron cow ore boom has gone bust today after last night’s price falls and today’s BHP Brazilian accident.

Shit: A dam holding back waste water from an iron ore mine owned by BHP Billiton and Brazil’s Vale burst on Thursday in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, and local media reported as many as 16 people may have been killed.

Not sure how to use or trade these but noticed them in the new IG newsletter and thought some of you would be interested: Hedge your exposure to materials stocks – the world’s most commonly used metal, iron ore, is now available to trade.

From Macquarie: The global steel industry roughly doubled in size from 2000-2014 at a CAGR of 4.8%.

I noted earlier this week that Port Hedland October shipments were weak. UBS has more: Port Hedland exports 36.5Mt in October 2015 The Port Hedland Port Authority has released export data for October 2015. Iron ore exports totalled 36.5Mt for October 2015 (-7% m/m & -3% y/y).