LN Metals International Ltd is a specialist in the trade of Ferrous and Non-Ferrous metals, ores concentrates, residues and by products.
Metal Bulletin 09 February 2010, London -The LME is pleased to announce that a second long-term physical cobalt contract has been finalised incorporating an LME pricing formula.
Jiangsu Cobalt Nickel Metal Co Ltd has agreed a long-term sales contract with LN Metals International Ltd for its 2010 export quota of the company's KLK brand cobalt metal which received LME brand registration on 29th January, 2010.
For a terminal market contract to gain traction physical material has to be priced basis the exchange formula. Jiangsu's decision is a further significant development and reflects keen interest in the physical industry to take advantage of LME pricing and the Exchange's other services.
Others producers that that have obtained LME registration include Jinchaun Group, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co, Votorantim, Kasese, Norilsk Nickel and Vale Inco.
The LME cobalt futures contract begins trading on February 22nd, 2010.
Metal Bulletin 09 February 2010, London - LN Metals has agreed a second-long term physical cobalt contract that will be tied to the London Metal Exchange's cobalt price, this time with Jiangsu Nickel Metal and Cobalt Co.
"Jiangsu Cobalt Nickel Metal Co Ltd has agreed a long-term sales contract with LN Metals International Ltd for its 2010 export quota of the company's KLK brand cobalt metal which received LME brand registration on 29 January 2010," the LME said on Monday.
The news comes just over two months after the London-based trader agreed a long-term contract against the exchange price with Votorantim Metais for deliveries in 2010 for a significant proportion of its Tocantins brand export tonnage in cobalt metal.
The agreement also comes a fortnight before the LME launches its 99.3% cobalt and molybdic oxide contracts on February 22.
"For a terminal market contract to gain traction physical material has to be priced basis the exchange formula. Jiangsu's decision is a further significant development and reflects keen interest in the physical industry to take advantage of LME pricing," it said.
Other producers that have obtained LME registration include Jinchuan Group, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co, Votorantim, Kasese and Vale Inco, the exchange said.
It also confirmed that Norilsk Nickel has listed its brand for delivery, an hour after MB reported that the Russian producer's K1aY and K1A had been approved as brands.
Norilsk's metal will be approved for delivery after a 28-day qualifying period and approval by the LME's executive board, said a source who had seen the notice.
Dow Jones 9th February, 2010, London - The LME is pleased to announce that a second long-term physical cobalt contract has been finalised incorporating an LME pricing formula.
Jiangsu Cobalt Nickel Metal Co Ltd has agreed a long-term sales contract with LN Metals International Ltd for its 2010 export quota of the company's KLK brand cobalt metal which received LME brand registration on 29th January, 2010.
For a terminal market contract to gain traction physical material has to be priced basis the exchange formula. Jiangsu's decision is a further significant development and reflects keen interest in the physical industry to take advantage of LME pricing and the Exchange's other services.
Others producers that that have obtained LME registration include Jinchaun Group, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co, Votorantim, Kasese, Norilsk Nickel and Vale Inco.
The LME cobalt futures contract begins trading on February 22nd, 2010.
Metal Bulletin 09 November 2009, London -The LME is pleased to announce that the first long-term physical cobalt contract has been finalised incorporating an LME pricing formula.
Votorantim Metais Brazil has agreed a long-term sales contract with LN Metals International Ltd for deliveries in 2010 for a significant proportion of the company's Tocantins brand export tonnage in cobalt metal.
For any new terminal market contract to gain traction physical material has to be priced basis the exchange formula. Votorantim's decision is a significant development and reflects keen interest in the physical industry to take advantage of LME pricing and the Exchange's other services.
The Brazilian company is one of a number of producers that has applied to list its cobalt brand. Others include Jinchaun Group, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co and Vale Inco.
The LME cobalt futures contract begins trading on February 22nd, 2010.
LN Metals is continuing to expand in the metals markets
by opening a representative office in Beijing and will eventually establish a
trading presence there, the company said Wednesday.
The office will be led by Dianna Hu, who has worked in the metals industry
for 15 years with Citic, AIOC, Glencore International and Caland Resources
covering both the metal and raw material sectors.
"The Beijing office will initially operate on a representative basis, but the
company will establish a domestic trading operation in due course," said LN
Chairman Nigel Dentoom.
The move builds on a series of expansions in recent months. LN recently
opened an office in Johannesburg and has been beefing up its presence in the
metals trading sector with hires in aluminum, cobalt, tin and antimony.
LN Metals is a U.K.-based physical merchant which operates in the nonferrous,
ferrous and minor metal markets and has an advisory business which delivers
specialist services to the mining industry.
The company is also a category five member of the London Metal Exchange and
is partly owned by FirstRand Bank of South Africa and Louis Dreyfus
Commodities, with the balance of its equity held by the staff.
LN Metals has hired former Trafigura aluminium trader Pani Klikis to diversify into aluminium trading, and has appointed a new cobalt trader. This is LN's first foray into aluminium trading.
"The company confirmed its intention to become active in the aluminium market and has hired Mr Pani Klikis," the company said on Monday.
Klikis left Trafigura's physical aluminium trading team last September after just a year at the trading house (MB Sept 9).
Before Trafigura, he worked for Minimet and Mitsui before joining Dover Resources where he was responsible for physical sales and hedging for the Romanian smelter Alro.
Jing Li has joined LN to focus on the Chinese cobalt industrial sector from the company's Geneva office.
She increases the number of cobalt traders to three - Tony Southgate and Eve Goodfellow joined from SFP Metals last year. Li previously worked for Eurochain SA in Geneva.
Klikis joins LN at a time of crisis for the aluminium industry, which is struggling with prices at levels below production costs, a lack of demand and a massive global surplus.
European premiums have disappeared, with material not registered for delivery into London Metal Exchange warehouses trading at a discount of up to $100 per tonne.
LME stocks, which rose by half a million tonnes in December, now stand at 2.34 million tonnes.
LN Metals is a category IV member of the LME. Privately held Switzerland-based trading company Louis Dreyfus took a 32% stake in the company in November 2007.
UK based commodity trader LN Metals said on Monday it had hired Ron Smedts to take responsibly for the company's European zinc and lead product portfolios.
Smedts joins from recycling firm Rezinal Belgium, where he spent seven years as commercial director, LN Metals said in a release.
Physical merchants LN Metals said on Wednesday it hired three staff to strengthen its copper, minor metals and steel teams.
The company said in a statement that it recruited Michael Harrison, who previously worked for Republic House, to work in its copper/Africa business.
LN Metals also added to its Minor Metals trading team through the hire of Eve Goodfellow from SFP.
It said Goodfellow was joining to develop trading of certain minor metals and as controller of cobalt logistics, with particular reference to Katanga Mining offtake where LN operates as an exclusive agent.
The company has also hired Keith Freeman, a steel industry veteran, as a consultant for the development of LN's steel trading portfolio.
Physical trader LN Metals says it is looking to diversify and complement its business by trading the new London Metal Exchange (LME) steel futures contract launched on Monday.
The company, in which Swiss-based commodities trading firm Louis Dreyfus bought a 32 percent stake in October, is involved in physical trading of the non-ferrous metals and minor metals.
"We feel the steel business will be good for us and one is diversification." Iain Paterson, Managing Director of LN Metals told Reuters in an interview.
"We have to spread the business," he said "The outlook remains healthy but the good times may not last forever. So what we need is a business which is sustainable."
Paterson said another reason was that steel could be complementary to its existing businesses, such as zinc, which is used to galvanise steel to prevent corrosion,
LME steel billet futures began trading in the early hours of Monday via electronic systems and telephone. The contracts will move to open outcry floor trading on April 28th.
Paterson said LN Metals had hired someone for its steel business but would not start trading from the very first day.
"We will not necessarily be jumping in with both feet on February 25. But the introduction of the contract is going to create some wonderful aberrations in the course of its first 24 months and we will definitely be around to take some advantage."
Quick Start?
A major concern over the success of the LME Steel Futures contract is the broad opposition of steel producers, who have repeatedly said the futures will increase speculation in the market and volatility.
But Paterson and David Rawlings, senior metal traders who will run the steel business for the company, were unfazed.
"It will work" said Rawlings, arguing futures markets offered a way of managing risk and that the steel market, with prices already fluctuating sharply, could use that tool.
Rawlings said the market would initially be driven by traders while producers would wait and see how the market developed.
But Paterson said he expected market activity to build up quickly.
"I think it is actually going to go for a quick start. I think there are enough market participants who believe that there is a logic behind the steel contract."
"Also, I think it is the right product," he added.
Steel billets are semi-finished products in the form of long blocks of steel which can be turned into hot rolled bards, rods, tube rounds and reconstruction bars, mainly used in construction and pipelines.
"The billet is probably the best choice in the fact that it really has only about three main grades globally... Also, it is quite solid and easy to transport around the world," Rawlings said.
LN Metals has a turnover of around $400 million in 2007 and has said it expects to double sales in 2008, partly due to an offtake agreement with mining firm Katanga.
RMB Resources, part of South African bank FirstRand Group holds 32 percent of LN Metals. The management owns the remainder of the company.
CRU Steel News
The UK non-ferrous metals trader LN Metals says it will start dealing in steel in the first quarter of this year. "The company will trade physical steel and hedge, if appropriate, through the steel futures contracts due to be launched this year on the LME," said Chairman Nigel Dentoom. "LME futures will allow us to hedge our physical exposure," he told CRU Steel News. LN is an associate trade member of the LME. Dentoom said: "To become effective for hedging, the LME futures contract will need liquidity and acceptance among physical traders for price recognition. This will take time, perhaps several years. Among the various exchanges to launch steel futures, the LME is the most likely to succeed." David Rawlings has been hired from steel merchant Balli Steel to lead LN's new operation. "David Rawlings will be the start of LN's entry into steel, we are not limiting him on products or geography," said Dentoom.
Rawlings has 20 years' experience in the sector which includes stints with Jocrow Steels, Mitsubishi and Corus. Other hires include Mathilde Taylor, formerly of Gerald Metals and Refco Overseas, who has 15 years' experience in derivative and physical trading, to head credit and risk control.
Lynne Boys and Ulyana Dobromyl will join the logistics desk from Republic House and Macsteel respectively. LN is 32% owned by Swiss-based trading giant Louis Dreyfus, 30% by South Africa's Rand Merchant Bank, part of the First Rand Group, and the remaining equity is held by directors and staff.
Basemetal.com
LN Metals International, an associate trade member of the London Metal Exchange (LME), said on Tuesday it was further expanding its team, adding positions to cover its move into steel trading, as well as boosting its operations in derivatives, logistics and accounting.
Over the next two months, David Rawlings will join from Balli Steel. He was previously with Jocrow Steels, Mitsubishi and Corus and has 20 years experience in the sector.
Also, Mathilde Taylor, formerly of Gerald Metals and Refco Overseas, who has 15 years experience in derivative and physical trading, will head credit and risk control. Lynne Boys and Ulyana Dobromyl will join the logistics desk from Republic House and Macsteel respectively, while Anastasia Lovett joins the accounting team from Maple Securities.
In 2007, LN Metals was appointed by Toronto-listed Katanga Mining Ltd to be the sole marketing agent for 2007 and 2008 to market copper and cobalt from its Kamoto Joint Venture near Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Combined output for 2007 and 2008 is forecast at 121 million pounds of copper and six million pounds of cobalt.
In October last year, LN also concluded an equity placement with Louis Dreyfus Commodities Metals Suisse SA,
part of the Louis Dreyfus Group. The firm, currently based in London's Docklands, will re-locate in the City of London financial district in March.
LN Metals international Ltd is pleased to confirm that it has successfully completed an equity placement of new
capital for the Company. The placement was made to Louis Dreyfus Commodities Metals Suisse SA, a subsidiary of the Louis Dreyfus Group.
Following the equity issue LN's shareholding is comprised: 32% pct Louis Dreyfus Commodities Metals Suisse SA, 32% pct RMB Resources Ltd with the balance being held by senior management, Mr Nigel Dentoom (Chairman), Mr Iain Paterson (Managing Director), Mr Kevin Rhodes (Finance Director), employees and other minority interests.
Dentoom stated, "LN decided to raise further capital to accelerate the Group's expansion, with a new investor which delivers mutual added value to the respective businesses"
Adding "the combination of RMB Resources Ltd and Louis Dreyfus Commodities Metals Suisse SA as material investors and business partners presents an enhanced platform for LN's continued expansion. LN's Directors are delighted that a company of Louis Dreyfus stature has secured an equity position in LN".
Louis Dreyfus is one of the world's leading commodity merchants and processors of agricultural products, which has merchandised and traded bulk commodities in international markets since 1851, entering metals trading in 2005.
Mr Michael Schonfeld, Managing Director, RMB Resources Ltd (the resource lending arm of the First Rand Banking Group) stated "LN has reached a position where it will benefit through a broader shareholding with a partner that will contribute significantly to the Group's continued growth".
Katanga Mining Limited (TSX - KAT) ("Katanga" or the "Company") announced today that it has appointed LN Metals International Ltd ("LN Metals") as sole agent for 2007 and 2008 for the marketing of copper and cobalt from its Kamoto Joint Venture near Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
LN Metals is an international trader of primary metals. It has already completed an initial market assessment of the most suitable off-takers for Katanga's copper and cobalt production. Katanga's goal is to establish a worldwide customer base for its high-grade copper and cobalt to spread risk and maximize the Company's return.
"This is another essential step on Katanga's path towards first production," stated Arthur Ditto, President & CEO of Katanga. "We chose LN Metals for its track record and worldwide representation and look forward to working closely together to develop the market and build relationships with end-users and customers."
Rehabilitation of mines and plants is on track for copper production to begin in September. Combined output for 2007
and 2008 is forecast at 121 million pounds of copper and six million pounds of cobalt.
Based in London, LN Metals was established in 1998 and is part owned by Rand Merchant Bank, the resource
lending arm of the FirstRand Group.
"LN and its shareholders are delighted to be appointed agents for Katanga, a project which is considered within
the global metals and mining industry to be one of the most significant copper/cobalt projects of the new millennium," stated Nigel Dentoom, Chairman of LN Metals.
