Specialty and minor metals
Overview
As demand for semi-conductors, touch-screens and other highly engineered products continues to grow, manufactures rely on the Argus metals price data and reliable market intelligence to track volatility and specialty materials and manage their impact on production costs.
Argus covers electronic, light and high-temperature metals, as well as specialist alloys and rare earths, through Argus Non-Ferrous Markets, Argus Battery Materials and the Argus Rare Earths Analytics service.
Electronic metals
Argus delivers transparent price data, market news and analysis across base metals, minor metals and battery materials to allow downstream participants to achieve a sustainable supply of electronic metals and reduce their exposure to price risk, all while researching and tracking individual materials in their components.
- Arsenic prices
- Bismuth prices
- Gallium prices
- Germanium prices
- Indium prices
- Selenium prices
- Tantalum prices
- Tellurium prices
- Zirconium prices
Light metals
Argus is the leader in light metals price data and serves the most active consuming regions globally in aerospace, automotive and other highly engineered industries. Manufacturers of alloyed materials and light metals benefit from both primary and scrap material coverage in the Argus suite of products.
High-temperature metals
Some materials necessitate higher temperature and corrosion resistance beyond that offered by carbon steel, these often rely on a proprietary blend of alloyed materials. Argus worked closely with manufacturers to develop the Alloy Calculator tool, a one-stop solution for estimating the current value of raw materials in their specific composition to price even the most specific blends of alloys to be priced in primary and scrap form.
- Chromium prices
- Cobalt prices
- Hafnium prices
- Molybdenum prices
- Niobium prices
- Rhenium prices
- Tantalum prices
- Tungsten prices
- Tungsten outlooks
- Vanadium prices
Highlights of specialty metals coverage
- Independent reference prices for highly illiquid markets and niche materials
- Brings transparency to markets with few global suppliers but increasing global demand
- Exchange data with 30-minute delay standard and the option to add real-time
- Twice weekly global bulk alloys, noble alloys and steel feedstock prices
- Comprehensive global electronic metals price assessments
- High-temperature metals price assessments, including full scope of tungsten coverage with optional short and long-term forecasting
- Light metals including a suite of titanium and aerospace-grade price assessments
- Rare earths prices assessments with short and long-term forecasts
- Electronic vehicle and aerospace raw materials coverage, including highly engineered components and structural materials
- Coverage of supply chain issues, including demand, capacity, risks to responsible sourcing and supply
- Alloy Calculator tool allows easy identification of cost implications for material substitutions in any alloyed metals
- Synthetic prices can be created in the Alloy Calculator to provide material value in the absence of spot market assessments
Spotlight content
Browse the latest thought leadership produced by our global team of experts.
Airbus extends $94mn support to parts supplier Spirit
Airbus extends $94mn support to parts supplier Spirit
London, 18 July (Argus) — European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has agreed to provide an additional $94mn support package to US parts supplier Spirit AeroSystems, to enable the company to stabilise its production on Airbus programmes ahead of the acquisition process closing. The initial agreement between Airbus and Spirit issues $94mn to the parts supplier for exclusive use on specified Airbus contracts. This batch of financial assistance follows funds of $29mn issued within three days of the original agreement on 28 June 2024, and a further $29mn paid to Spirit on 1 August 2024, bringing total support to $152mn. US aircraft maker Boeing is currently in the process of reacquiring its former subsidiary Spirit in a bid to stabilise its supply chain and financial position. The merger agreement also divested to Airbus various work packages carried out by Spirit for its European customer. The agreement specifies the following contracts to be eligible for the financial support: A350 wing, A350 fuselage, A321 NEO XLR inboard flap, Short Brothers GTA, A220 mid-fuselage, A220 pylon, A220 wing and business agreement. Any assets purchased with the financial support will be directly or indirectly assumed by Airbus once the acquisition transaction closes, which is expected in the third quarter. In addition to the $152mn support package, Airbus has also provided Spirit with non-interest bearing lines of credit of $200mn. Spirit confirmed earlier this month that Airbus will also take on mid-fuselage production in Belfast , having originally only committed to the A220 wing and A350 programmes. Shorts Brothers, which operates the Belfast site as a subsidiary of Spirit, reported a loss of $504mn in 2024 owing to adverse inflationary pressures on its supply chain and challenges with hiring and retaining a skilled workforce. Following the divestment to Airbus and acquisition by Boeing, Short Brothers will continue to supply structural aircraft components and spare parts to Canadian business jet manufacturer Bombardier, and UK engine firm Rolls-Royce. By Samuel Wood Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
S Korea’s EcoPro to supply lithium hydroxide to SK On
S Korea’s EcoPro to supply lithium hydroxide to SK On
Singapore, 18 July (Argus) — Major South Korean lithium-ion battery cathode active material (CAM) manufacturer EcoPro on Thursday signed an agreement to supply battery producer SK On 6,000t of lithium hydroxide by the end of this year. The contracted volume is sufficient to produce batteries for about 100,000 electric vehicles, EcoPro said. In addition to this agreement, the firms are planning to sign another contract before December for additional supply for the next 2-3 years. Demand for non-Chinese lithium raw materials is expected to increase on the back of the revised Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and EcoPro will use this agreement to secure more customers in North America and Europe, EcoPro's chief executive Kim Yoon-tae said. EcoPro signed an agreement in March to partner with Canada's Hydro Quebec to expand its business portfolio to development and production of CAM for all solid state batteries. But EcoPro has cut down domestic investment in South Korea because of "deferral of customer demand". EcoPro cut its planned investment in new facilities by over 20pc in June to 755.3bn Korean won ($543mn) from the original sum of W957.3bn announced in 2024. It also extended the commitment period to 30 September 2026 from 31 August 2025. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Q&A: American Pacific sees copper growth ahead
Q&A: American Pacific sees copper growth ahead
Houston, 17 July (Argus) — US President Donald Trump's planned 50pc tariffs on copper imports could drive significant changes in the domestic industry. Argus spoke with American Pacific Mining chief executive Warwick Smith and managing director of exploration Eric Saderholm — owners of several copper assets in the US — on the short and long-term copper outlook. Edited highlights follow : Will the expected 50pc copper import tariffs play a lasting role in changing US production and smelting capacity? Saderholm : Copper tariffs will greatly impact copper-centric companies. Both miners and downstream users will certainly be affected. The overall tariff moves are somewhat founded but I do not know if they will work across the board, especially for producing and refining domestic copper. The problem lies in the fact that while the US has significant copper reserves, it will take a long time to build new mines. The US really has no way to keep up with the copper production needed to be self-reliant. We must have smelting capabilities as well. Our processing techniques have been compromised over the last several decades, especially with smelters. We have allowed many US smelters to be blown up, removed, or become nonfunctional. The US government will have to think about funding the construction of smelters. Smith : The copper "tariff talk" from the White House has already started to play a role, as prices drastically increased following the tariff announcement. Larger US refined copper producers, such as Freeport-McMoRan and Rio Tinto, will likely need to start acquiring new copper sources under development. As larger companies scramble to look for US-based copper assets to build new mines, smaller companies with assets in the US will see stronger demand. Considering the inverse US dollar/copper price relationship and the falling dollar in the last year, do you see further incentives for more investment? Smith : I think this area of investment to move these assets forward has been under appreciated and under financed for at least a decade, up until the last two months. More money will continue to come into the market out of necessity, not because of a sudden shift. The world is heading in an increasingly "green" direction, which requires copper. We are seeing that partially play out now. I think there will be more significant investment into both major mid-tier and smaller mining companies that focus on copper as well. With the IEA and others warning of a copper deficit by 2035, do you expect the US to run into supply issues with current production capabilities? Smith : I think the short answer is yes because of an escalating supply-demand imbalance. The US will need to catch up in terms of production and finding new assets. Expediting permitting timelines will also be key to catching up on production. Not only is there a need to find new mines, but a need to permit them quickly enough to get them into production and drive those assets forward. What efforts by the current administration to shorten permitting, construction and start up times would contribute the most to additional capacity? Smith : They have come up with the FAST 41 transparency list focused on expediting strategic metal projects. The FAST 41 list is quite smart. Anecdotally speaking, getting exploration permits has become a lot quicker than under the Biden administration. We have worked since the Obama administration and Republicans do make things move a lot quicker. There is a project that we own in Nevada that under Obama, took us 6.5 weeks to get permits to drill. Under Trump, the first permit approval took four days. That is just exploration drilling now when you think about permitting in mind. You can extrapolate those timelines virtually the same way. It makes a big difference. From that standpoint, we like what they are doing. Some of the Department of Defense funding has also been very helpful. They have put a lot of money into that as well. I think they are doing a lot of the right things on that front. Saderholm : The expedited permitting initiatives are a bit of a double-edged sword. With Trump taking office at the beginning of the year, he wanted a lot of federal jobs to be eliminated. We have had issues with the lack of personnel. Even though they want to fast-track permits, there are not a whole lot of people to fast track them for you. Where do your Palmer VMS and Madison Mine projects stand currently? Smith : The Madison asset in Montana is our flagship. It is a really high-grade skarn surface with a porphyry underneath. We're wrapping up some drilling there and will lead another drill campaign shortly. The location is great as well. It is 40 miles from one of the largest porphyries in the world. It has the hallmarks that it could be a big winner for us. We also own 100pc of the Palmer project, a 16.7mn tonne volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) project up in Alaska. We have had many discussions about the project with other groups interested in the asset. The asset is probably 8-10 years away from production. By Reagan Patrowicz Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Alcoa's global Al output up, bauxite and alumina fall
Alcoa's global Al output up, bauxite and alumina fall
Sydney, 17 July (Argus) — US producer Alcoa's aluminium output increased on the year in April-June despite the months-long closure of its San Ciprián aluminium smelter in Spain. But its bauxite and alumina output fell in the quarter. Aluminium Alcoa smelted 572,000t of aluminium in April-June, up by 5.3pc on the year, the company said in a quarterly report on 17 July. It has maintained its 2025 aluminium production guidance at 2.3mn-2.5mn t, which it set in January. The increase came from the continued ramp-up of its 447,000 t/yr Alumar smelter in Brazil. It operates the smelter with Australian producer South32 . The two companies reopened the aluminium smelter in 2024 after a nine-year production halt. Alcoa's Alumar ramp-up offset production declines from the shutdown of its San Ciprián aluminium smelter in Spain. The company initially paused production at the 228,000 t/yr plant in December 2021. It began a phased restart in early 2024 , but paused it in late-April 2025 because of a major power outage. Alcoa will fully restart the plant by mid-2026 with the support of energy solutions provider Ignis Equity Holdings. Alcoa shipped 581,000t of produced aluminium in April-June, as well as 53,000t of third-party aluminium, pushing down its total shipments by 6.5pc on the year ( see table ). The company also reduced its 2025 aluminium shipment guidance to 2.5mn-2.6mn t from its April forecast of 2.6mn-2.8mn t because of the San Ciprián shutdown. Alcoa, like many other global aluminium producers, faced tariff pressures in April-June. The company redirected some Canadian-produced aluminium away from the US over the quarter, it told investors. Alcoa expects tariffs to cost $90mn in July-September. US tariffs similarly cost UK-Australian producer Rio Tinto in April-June . It paid $712/t of aluminium shipped to the US over the quarter, the company told investors on 16 July. Bauxite and alumina Alcoa produced 9.3mn t of bauxite and 2.4mn t of alumina in April-June, down by 2.1pc and by 7.4pc on the year respectively. It shut its 2.2mn t/yr Kwinana alumina refinery in late 2024, reducing its production capacity. The company has maintained its 2025 calendar year alumina production guidance at 9.5mn-9.7mn t, unchanged from April. It also cut its produced alumina shipments in the quarter to 2.4mn t, down from 2.6mn t a year earlier, but this was supplemented by third-party shipments. The company maintained its 2025 alumina shipment guidance at 13.1mn-13.3mn t. Alcoa will ship more alumina than it produces in 2025 because it plans to use third-party sales as a substitute for Kwinana production to meet existing shipment obligations. By Avinash Govind Alcoa quarterly report mn t Apr-Jun '25 Apr-Jun '24 y-o-y Change (%) Jan-Jun '25 Jan-Jun '24 YTD Change (%) Production Bauxite 9.3 9.5 -2.1 18.8 19.6 -4.1 Alumina 2.4 2.5 -7.4 4.7 5.2 -9.7 Aluminium 0.6 0.5 5.3 1.1 1.1 4.7 Shipments Alumina (produced) 2.4 2.6 -8.1 4.7 5.2 -9.9 Alumina shipments (other) 3.3 3.3 -0.2 6.5 6.6 -2.3 Aluminium (produced) 0.6 0.6 -2.4 1.1 1.1 0.3 Aluminium (other) 0.05 0.1 -36.6 0.1 0.2 -43.4 — Alcoa Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
