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The China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, which is one of the most important metal lobbying bodies in the entire industry, has given its approval for the proposed merger between global commodities trader Glencore International and copper miner Xstrata PLC.

The endorsement will likely lead to others following suit in their approval, with Jia Mingxing, deputy chairman of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, commenting “The merger would be beneficial for the industry.”

The two companies are currently thrashing out the final details on what is believed to be a bumper $80 billion dollar merger.

A recent report released by the powder metallurgy consultancy MATE has revealed that the Chinese powder metal industry is looking set to continue growing as demand for products increases.

The report claims that the automotive industry, both national and domestic, saw the Chinese industry rack up a total of 18 million sales during the course of 2011, with estimates placing the projected figures for 2012 at 20 million. This would make the Chinese powder metal industry the largest in the field.

MATE also claims that the city of Zhuzhou in the Hunan Province will build China’s largest domestic carbide precision tools industrial park, with the project set to be completed in 2016.

The people who now own the famous Redcar steel plant have announced that the finishing line for reopening the plant is finally in sight, after plans to open it up again have had to be twice delayed.

The Teesside plant will be operated by Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) and had been intended to reopen on December 8th, before this was delayed to January 6th. A further delay was blamed on “unfavourable weather conditions, industrial action and additional unplanned, arising work.”

SSI UK has now announced that heating of the stoves that will be used has started and will take a number of weeks to reach the 1200C temperature that is required to use them.

SSI UK chief executive Phil Dryden claims that the company are 90% towards reopening, stating “The heating up of the blastfurnace stoves is a significant milestone in the programme leading to the restart of operations and I am looking forward to us completing the remaining work over the next few weeks.

“The finishing line is now in sight and we will announce the blastfurnace blow in date within the next few weeks.”

A recent study by the Royal Society has claimed that the world is facing a shortage of metals that are vital to the electronics industry, meaning that in the future we may see more difficulty in producing such products.

Rare metals such as gallium, indium and selenium are ‘hitchhiker metals’, meaning that they are not mined on their own but are generally by-products of mining for more common metals, such as copper and zinc.

Physicist and economist professor Robert Ayres claims that such metals don’t follow traditional economic patterns as a result because greater output of the materials can’t necessarily be produced when demand for them rises, due in large part to their scarcity.

Lasers, LED lighting and catalysts rely on hitchhiker metals and there are no known substitutes in a given application.

The Royal Society commented “While recycling of these rare metals would appear to present the most feasible option for stemming this potential disastrous metals shortage, there are a number of technical barriers to this process which urgently need to be addressed by researchers if the serious implications of this shortage are not to be felt in the near future.

Robert Ayres continued “There is only a finite quantity of each of these metals that will ever be available, yet – with minor exceptions – nobody is recycling today. Collection of these materials is difficult, and the chemistry is complicated, but the obstacles must be overcome and soon, or a number of important opportunities will be lost. More research is needed, and I suspect that new legislation as well as capital investment are going to be necessary.”

Ministers have announced that they are looking to implement an e-money payment system that they believe would make it easier to track down scrap metal thieves in the future.

Home Secretary Theresa May sent a written statement to MPs, proposing the measures that would be put in place once all cash transactions are banned under new proposals. Dealers will face unlimited fines if they are caught trading the metal for cash under the new rules.

The measures are intended to come into force in April and will hopefully help to cut down the amount of scrap metal thefts in the UK by creating a paper trail that would lead back to thieves.

A recent report from the Transport Select Committee (TSC) claimed that scrap metal thieves stealing cables led to 3.8 million people experiencing delays or cancellations in train journeys last year, with hospitals and homes also suffering as a result of thieves.

The report claims that as many as eight incidents occur everyday, with TSC chairman Louise Ellman commenting “Current legislation for regulating scrap metal dealers is out of date.

“We need urgent reform to improve the audit trail generated by the scrap metal industry so that criminals selling stolen metal into the trade can be identified much more easily.”

A recent Government ruling is to make it illegal for scrap metal dealers to pay their providers in cash, in an effort to curb the amount of metal thefts that are currently occurring in the UK.

Metal theft is estimated to cost the economy £770 million, with thieves targeting the transport system, schools, churches and even war monuments in an effort to get their hands on more scrap metal.

The measures fall short of calls by Labour MP Graham Jones for all scrap sellers to provide proof of identity, however unlimited fines will be introduced for those who are caught dealing in scrap metals.

Around 1,000 offences are believed to take place every week, which is a number that MPs are looking to drop with a new clause in the Legal Aid Bill.

In addition the Government is also ready to scrap the £1,000 limit on fines for trading stolen scrap metal. The measures should come into force in April and make the latest efforts by the Government to clean up the scrap metal industry.

The aluminium industry in Australia is increasingly finding itself in crisis after Norsk Hydro announced a round of 150 redundancies at their Kurri Kurri smelting plant. Additionally Tomago Aluminium have announced a major restructuring that will cost the plant at least 100 jobs.

The strong Australian dollar and low metal prices are both believed to have played a part in the recent round of lay-offs, with some analysts claiming that workers at the two plants need to be prepared as this may not be the end of the redundancies.

The announcements have not surprised the Australian Workers Union, with Newcastle branch secretary Richard Downie saying both organisations have been battling for several months.

The Kurri Kurri smelter will see its production cut by 120,000 tonnes a year as a result of the difficulties the industry is facing.

Police have announced the seizure of 1,000 stainless steel beer kegs that were believed to have a scrap metal value of £100,000. The kegs have apparently been seized from a group of thieves who are specifically targeting the brewing industry.

The stolen kegs were found stored in shipping containers during a police raid at two addresses in Tottenham and Edmonton in north London on Friday afternoon.

Police have arrested a 19 year old man and an 18 year old woman in relation to the thefts after they were caught on one of the sites. It is believed that each keg has a value between £75 and £165 according to Scotland Yard.

Detective Inspector Steven Dryden of Haringey CID commented “In the last 10 years, the price of metal has soared 400%; it’s a valuable commodity that makes it an attractive prospect to thieves.

“Thieves and unscrupulous dealers will find industries are not prepared to suffer any further, and police in Haringey will not hesitate to take action against anyone who is found to be involved in this form of criminality in the borough.”

Security Director of Kegwatch, David Belcher, added “Stainless steel beer kegs are used in pubs and clubs across the country. Stolen kegs are often disposed of illegally through illicit outlets and scrap yards. We work hard with police forces up and down the country to stop this from happening and as a result we have had many successful prosecutions.”

The London Metal Exchange has announced that it has received a number of bids tat they will be considering during an upcoming board meeting in February, according to Chief Executive Martin Abbott.

The world’s top market for industrial metals, which has been receiving initial takeover offers since September, will also be sending out detailed financial information to all of the potential buyers in the coming weeks, so that they can further consider their proposals.

“There is a very healthy number of potential bidders,” Abbott told a news conference. “We want to show initial bids to the board on February 23.”

he would not provide answers on how many parties had put in bids for the exchange, however some sources are claiming that as many as 15 potential bidders exist, offering as much as £1 billion for the company.

The European steel producers lobby Eurofer has announced that it has filed an anti-subsidy complaint against the Chinese in relation to their state support for exports of organic-coated steel ( OCS)

to Europe, which the group claims it hurting the shrinking EU sector.

The complaint will add to the anti-dumping investigation currently be carried out by authorities and the lobby has claimed that it has evidence that the Chinese government have provided a range of incentives for Chinese steel production, including preferential loans, tax schemes, interest rates and grants for OCS.

Gordon Moffat, Eurofer’s director general, commented “Clearly the miracle of the Chinese steel industry which now counts for almost 50 percent of global steel production is not the result of free market forces.

“The Chinese government at central, provincial and local level owns, directs and subsidises virtually every aspect of its steel industry and has financed huge excess capacities.”