Manganese ore prices continued to rise last week (April 15-19).
On April 19, the CIF price of the Fastmarkets' weekly high-grade manganese ore index in Tianjin was 4.86 US dollars/tonne, up 1.25% from 4.80 US dollars/dry tonne on April 12, and 13.29% higher than 4.29 US dollars/tonne on the 4th.
According to sources, port spot prices for high-grade manganese ore also rose sharply after South32 announced the news, while traders and smelters had mixed feelings.
South32 announced in its quarterly report on Sunday, April 21, that export sales and terminal operations at Groote Eylandt Mining Company (GEMCO) in Australia's Groote Eylandt Island may be suspended for about a year.
Affected by this news, China's manganese market continues to heat up.
From March 16 to 17, 2024, Cyclone “Megan” seriously affected the operation of South32's GEMCO facility in Australia and caused the mine to suspend operations on March 18. Marine and port manganese ore prices have continued to rise in recent weeks. South32 reports that record rainfall and “the second-strongest wind in the past 20 years” have caused widespread flooding on Groote Eylandt Island and “severe damage” to critical infrastructure, including the docks and harbors, as well as transportation routes and bridges connecting the northern GEMCO Western Leases mine pit and processing plant.
The company said in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, South32 expects to resume terminal operations and export sales from January to March 2025.
After the news broke, market participants were more optimistic about manganese ore prices.
Sources said on Monday, April 22, that market supply has been tightening and port inventories are already low.
Prices did not rise immediately after the hurricane in Australia in March and the announcement of delays in GEMCO mine production and shipment; the week after the Ching Ming Festival, on April 12, also after the market estimated the time to resume operation of the GEMCO mine, the market price only reacted.
South32 said that due to the suspension of GEMCO's operations, its sellable production of manganese ore in Australia fell by 352,000 wet tonnes (13%) to 2,324,000 wet tonnes in the nine months ending March.
According to the company's latest annual financial report, South32's 60% equity mine in GEMCO will produce 3.545 million tons of high-grade manganese ore in 2023.
Companies related to manganese ore price increases:
Southern Manganese (01091): Nanfang Manganese is a large-scale enterprise group for the production and development of manganese products integrating mining, selection and metallurgy. It is headquartered in Nanning, Guangxi. It is an important supplier of manganese products in the world, and is the main unit for drafting and approving quality standards for eight countries and industries of manganese products including the electrolytic manganese metal. Main products include electrolytic manganese, electrolytic manganese dioxide, manganese sulfate, and nickel cobalt lithium manganate ternary materials. According to the 2023 interim results, the profit attributable to owners of the parent company in the first half of the year was HK$453 million, an increase of 1955% over the previous year. The increase in revenue was mainly due to an increase in the average selling price of electrolytic manganese products and electrolytic manganese dioxide; an increase in sales from boron-added ore; and an increase in sales revenue from the trading business.