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.

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.

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.

China’s steel exports for 2021 were 66.9Mt, up 24.6% year on year. The global steel imbalance favoured China during the steel shortage at the beginning of 2021. China pounced on the opportunity it offered during the first six months of 2021, with average monthly steel exports of 6.23Mt. This represents a 30.2% jump from the same period of last year.

Global sales of passenger electric cars soared to 6.6m in 2021, more than doubling from a year earlier, even as the overall car market stagnated on the back of supply-chain disruptions. The share of electric cars jumped to almost 9% of the overall car market last year, compared to 4.1% in 2020 and 2.5% in 2019.

Most mined nickel is derived from one of two types of ore deposits—magmatic sulphide or laterite. Sulphide deposits are formed by magma from the Earth’s mantle ascending into the crust and crystallising iron-magnesium-nickel rich mafic and ultramafic rocks containing nickel-rich sulphide minerals. Lateritic deposits are formed from the weathering of ultramafic rocks, are typically near-surface and are typically found in tropical climates.

Australia’s ties with top trade partner China embittered in 2020 when Canberra publicly called for an enquiry into the origins of the coronavirus. Diplomatic retaliations have since followed, including a raft of trade measures imposed by China on Australian metallurgical coal exports.

Outside China, the benchmark global aluminium price is the London Metal Exchange’s (LME) Aluminium cash contract price, the price per ton for a 99.7% unalloyed aluminium ingot (or similar) for re-melting.

Global oil storage acts as the balancing point between supply and demand. During periods when supply exceeds demand, crude oil and petroleum products can be stored for future use. For example, in the economic downturn of late 2008, the unexpected drop in world demand led to record crude oil inventories in the US and other OECD countries.

In 2021, central banks around the world added 463t in total to their gold holdings, an 82% increase in purchases from the decade-low of 255t recorded last year, bringing central banks’ total reserves to almost 35,600t.

As the world transitions to lower fossil fuel dependence, demand for copper is expected to continue to grow, given that renewable energy technologies contain up to five times as much copper as their fossil fuel-based counterparts.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) was held in Glasgow in November 2021 under the co-presidency of the UK and Italy, with over 190 members participating to take collaborative action on climate change. The main issues discussed at the conference included climate change mitigation, the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions, climate financing for developing countries, and phasing out of coal, among other issues.

Steel is manufactured by two main process routes. One is the integrated steelmaking process featuring the blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BF/BOF), where iron ore is the major source of iron units; the other method is electric steelmaking based on the electric arc furnace (EAF), where steel scrap or direct reduced iron (DRI) are the major iron feedstock materials.

Hydrogen is the energy market’s new player on the block, attracting attention for its exciting potential, variable supply sources and cleanliness as a fuel. Hydrogen has incredible energy density by weight at 120MJ/kg, with the potential to revolutionise energy storage and supply to turn one of the key global polluters into an emissions-free industry.

China wants 20% of new car sales to be electric by 2025, with this share doubling to 40% by 2030, according to an action plan issued by the country's state council in October. With EV sales set to soar, the country’s demand for batteries is expected to skyrocket.

Surging demand on the back of post-pandemic economic stimulus from China has seen aluminium metal prices surge over most of 2021. China has continued on its merry way as a net importer of the material.

Copper prices soared in 2021 as the global economy rebounded post-pandemic on the back of the global vaccine rollout, which prompted an easing of restrictions and higher economic activity. Copper prices were also powered by hefty government stimulus, particularly China's huge infrastructure spending, as well as market tightness and the green push.

Gold started the year high, supported by concerns about the long-term ramifications of the Covid-19 pandemic and associated supply chain disruptions. The Asia gold spot price in January averaged US$1892.59/oz, while the European gold spot price averaged US$1865.70/oz.

AME expects the iron ore price to average US$161/t over 2021, representing a yearly increase of 47.7% from US$109/t in 2020. The 65% and 58% iron ore spot prices are estimated at US$187/t and US$129/t in 2021, up 53.3% and 32.6% year on year, respectively.

2021 has been a turbulent year for LNG. After the initial recovery from the brutal shock of Covid-19, there was great optimism for a return to an economic “mostly normal”, with a few caveats.

During 2021, the global coal industry not only recovered from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, but proved that despite the worldwide negative outlook, coal burnt hotter than ever. Steel mills around the world ramped up and coal trade flows adjusted to accommodate China’s import ban on Australian metallurgical coal.

Nickel prices started 2021 on the up, at ~US$16,600/t, as supply continued to be built out in Indonesia and hoovered up by China—largely from Chinese-owned and operated capacity developments in the country—to fill the gap left by Indonesia’s raw ore export ban, which came into place at the start of 2020.

The year 2021 brought global economic growth following the 2020 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.

In 2021, average monthly HRC prices experienced a ‘tale of two cities’. US prices increased significantly during the 11 months to November, ending at US$1,756/t, up 108.3% since the beginning of the year.

During 2021, the global coal industry not only recovered from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, but proved that despite the worldwide negative outlook, coal burnt hotter than ever.

Often described as ‘solid electricity’, aluminium takes ~14kWh of power to produce 1kg of metal. If the aluminium smelting industry was a country, it would be the fifth-largest power consumer in the world.

China’s electricity generation has been hampered in recent months by tight coal supplies, surging coal prices, and toughening emissions standards. China has been unable to buy coal from Australia due to an import ban, while supplies from its biggest supplier, Indonesia, have been impacted by persistent rainfall.

The value of gold in electronic waste (e-waste) could stand at around US$50bn by 2030. In 2016, it was estimated that around 16Moz of gold was thrown away in 44.7Mt of e-waste. In 2030, it is estimated that 74Mt of e-waste will be produced globally, which would translate to 26Moz of gold.

With the 62% Fe iron ore price declining significantly to US$100/t in September from highs of over US$230/t in May and expected to remain weak beyond 2021, several junior iron ore miners in Australia are facing pressure and have had to revise mine plans.

China’s consumption of LNG has only grown over the last several years, and Chinese import demand promises to overtake that of current world leader Japan within the decade. AME currently pegs China’s maximum regasification and receival capacity at 80Mtpa, though the nation only consumed 68Mt in 2020.

Coal remains on a structural decline in the United States although 2021 is expected to be the first year since 2013 that consumption increases. US Metallurgical coal exports are forecast to make an increasing contribution to the export market with 36.5Mt in 2021 and 41.7Mt in 2022.

The recent history of nickel has had a distinctly Indonesian focus. This is hardly surprising given the spate of developments seen in the country. While initially the focus was predominately on shipping raw ore to China, investment and development activity shifting the focus to domestic downstream processing has been in overdrive since the Indonesian government brought forward a raw ore export ban to the start of 2020.

For months, Europe has been gripped by rising energy prices, specifically rising natural gas prices, due to constrained natural gas supply, and it is now facing a full-on crisis.

According to India’s National Steel Policy (NSP) 2017, the country’s total crude steel capacity and total crude steel demand/production are projected to be 300Mt and 255Mt, respectively, by 2030-2031. Within the same timeframe, India’s NSP expects domestic steel consumption to reach 160kg per capita.

Germany has led European renewable investments throughout the last decade, aiming to fully transform its power sector. However, Germany’s decarbonisation plan does not seem to be consistent with its large coal fleet closure timeline.

Global leaders have committed to making a concerted effort to end their reliance on fossil fuels by 2030 and solidified their commitments to carbon neutrality, with most nations aiming to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and China by 2060.

DR pellet is an essential input for producing direct reduced iron (DRI) a highly pure form of iron which is often used as a feedstock, along with steel scrap, to produce steel in an electric arc furnace (EAF).

With the intensifying global focus on greenhouse gas emissions and the existential risk posed by climate change, miners are coming under increasing pressure to decarbonise their operations.

As the world’s largest copper producer, Chile is forecast to produce approximately 25% of the world’s copper in concentrate in 2021 and 2022.

Having historically been the largest demand source for nickel, the stainless-steel sector still dominates global nickel demand, and it is expected to continue to do so.

Zinc producers are currently facing numerous challenges to keeping a stable supply. Globally, there has been huge demand for energy as economies recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

With aluminium production being the demand source for ~90% of alumina, and due to some difficulties with the hydrophilic powder’s long-term storage, the global market for smelter-grade alumina is generally in close balance.

AME expects the Middle East’s crude steel production for 2021 and 2022 to be 48Mt, up 8.3%, and 53.3Mt, up 11%, respectively, year on year.

In several recent announcements, the Australian Federal Government has demonstrated its intention to have gas, particularly coal seam gas, play a central role in Australia’s future energy mix.

The United States has been an energy-hungry nation since it was founded, but it has regularly exported energy as well. The nation’s forests, coal, oil, and gas fields have shaped the world around it as technological innovation has supplied ever-expanding ways to exploit the abundance of resources the nation finds itself blessed with.

Crude oil has been used to produce transportation fuel for many decades. However, market factors may now make it necessary for organisations to consider oil-to-chemical complexes to maintain a competitive edge in today’s global market.

Thermal coal has been an important source of energy in most industrialised countries for several decades. Global reliance on this fossil fuel for electricity generation remains high. However, coal accounts for over 40% of global carbon emissions, with coal-fired power plants being the largest contributor to the rise in emissions in recent years.

On average, over one billion tonnes of metallurgical coal are used per year to produce most of the 1.7 billion tonnes of crude steel manufactured globally. In the last decade, the steel industry has focused its attention on the decarbonisation of steel production in a try to make renewable alternatives cost-effective.

The EU wants at least 30m electric vehicles on the region's roads by 2030—a massive increase from the 3.3m in 2020. The transition to EVs and away from internal combustion engine cars, which the bloc wants to phase out by 2035, will require a vast number of batteries, even if the most ambitious targets are not reached.

While China is currently winning the race to manufacture lithium-ion batteries with 93 gigafactories, the US is racing to build up and expand capacity to grab market share as the EV sector is set for rapid growth. AME expects annual production of EVs will grow from 3m in 2020 to more than 11m by 2025.

As it has emerged from pandemic lockdowns in mid-2020 and through 2021, China has increasingly struggled to meet its surging demand for primary aluminium with domestic production. The situation has come to a head with aluminium prices surging over the period. The primary ex-China index hit the US$3,000/t mark in intra-day trade recently and has been sitting around US$2,900/t. These prices have been dragged along by the high prices within China creating an arbitrage and the country becoming a vortex for available physical metal around the globe.

Global risks are seemingly mounting, with an energy crisis, inflation and China growth concerns at the forefront.

As the global energy transition gathers attention, the steel industry explores its opportunities in the decarbonisation plan. The surge in global steel production reflects a strengthened economic recovery despite repeated outbreaks of Covid-19.