| |
| |
| Rhodium |
| Rhodium demand fell by 4% in
2007 to 808,000 ounces. However,
the market is still expected to
remain in deficit as shipments
from Russia have declined. |
|
| Rhodium supply and demand |
| (000 oz) |
2007 |
2006 |
| Supply |
|
|
| South Africa |
695 |
690 |
| Russia |
70 |
95 |
| North America |
20 |
20 |
| Others |
19 |
19 |
| Total supply |
804 |
824 |
| Demand |
|
|
| Autocatalyst: |
|
|
| gross |
861 |
867 |
| recovery |
(179) |
(169) |
| Chemical |
55 |
48 |
| Electrical |
10 |
9 |
| Glass |
38 |
65 |
| Other |
23 |
21 |
| Total demand |
808 |
841 |
| Movements in stocks |
(4) |
(17) |
|
| |
| AUTOCATALYST |
| Demand for rhodium in the
autocatalyst sector declined in
2007 despite increasing global
vehicle production. High rhodium
prices have put steady pressure
on vehicle manufacturers to thrift
the rhodium content in their
emission control technology. In
North America, rhodium demand was unchanged in 2007. Demand in Japan was lower in
2007. Auto manufacturers purchased rhodium for
stocks in 2006 and this is not believed to have occurred
in 2007. In Europe, continued growth in the diesel
market affected demand for rhodium which declined by
10%. The region of greatest growth in demand is in
China and 'Rest of world', where vehicle production is
expanding rapidly. |
| |
| OTHER |
| Demand for rhodium in the glass industry grew strongly
between 2004 and 2006 with a number of new
furnaces constructed for the rapidly expanding liquid
crystal display (LCD) glass market. The rate of expansion
has slowed with a concomitant decrease in rhodium
offtake in this sector. Demand fell by 41% to 38,000
ounces. Rhodium is used in catalysts in the production
of acetic acid, oxo-alcohols and other chemicals.
Demand from this sector is expected to have increased
to 55,000 ounces. |
| |
| Ruthenium |
| Ruthenium is an essential material for the manufacture
of perpendicular magnetic recording hard disks. Growth
in demand for ruthenium increased rapidly in 2006 and
2007. Global refining capacity to process revert scrap
from this application was not sufficient in 2006 and the
price of ruthenium rose rapidly. In 2007, however, this
capacity has increased and recycled metal supplied a
greater proportion of industry needs. |
| |
| Nickel |
The nickel price opened the year at US$32,940 per
tonne, rallied strongly during the first and second
quarters to peak around the US$54,000 per metric
tonne level in May before trading progressively lower to
close the year at US$26,200 per tonne. Volatility
reached record levels as a result of the rapid shift from
a critically tight market to a surplus. The shift in position
was largely on the back of increased production of pig
iron containing low nickel and a reduction in stainless
steel production in China in the latter half of the year. London Metal Exchange (LME) stocks opened the year
at 6,570 tonnes, before closing the year at 47,940
tonnes.
Nickel production grew by more than 8% in 2007 with
similar growth levels expected in 2008 and 2009. The
Goro and Ravensthorpe projects are expected to be
fully operational by then, contributing about 5% of the
global mine supply. Nickel supply continues to grow
from new nickel mine projects such as Ravensthorpe
and Goro plus the expansion of existing operations and
more recently the production of nickel pig iron
produced from previously uneconomic stockpiles of
low-grade laterites. The production of nickel pig iron
only started in 2007 in China due to the high price of
virgin nickel. It was not economical to produce this at
prices below US$23,000 per tonne. The nickel price has
increased by more than 650% over the period 2002 to
2007. An estimated 35,000 tonnes of nickel contained
in nickel pig iron was produced in 2007 and production
is expected to increase to 55,000 tonnes in 2008.
Nickel demand remains healthy, driven predominantly
by the robust Chinese stainless steel production. China
boosted its stainless steel production capacity by rapidly
building stainless steel plants and is now a net exporter
of the metal. Chinese nickel demand grew by about
20% year on year, despite producers cutting back on
production in the third quarter. As Chinese exports of
stainless steel continue to put pressure on markets
globally, European demand for nickel is expected to
remain subdued, increasing marginally in the coming
years. Similar growth patterns are expected in other
markets such as Japan and South Korea.
The growth in LME nickel inventories of 41,370 tonnes
over 2007 came about through the supply-demand
surplus. Fundamentally the outlook for nickel remains
healthy for 2008. The current price has corrected itself
from record highs in May and settled in the US$25-
30,000 per tonne range. |
| |
| RUTHENIUM USED IN MRAM MEMORY ELEMENT |
| A group of Japanese researchers from Tohoku University and Hitachi claim to have developed a new type
of memory element structure for magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) using a double layered
composition made from ruthenium and cobalt-iron-boron. This method could prove a stepping stone
towards gigabit-level versions of the technology, tradingmarkets.com reports. The team developed the
memory element by using the spin injection technique, which allows the surrounding structure of the
element to be simplified. Meanwhile, the free layer employed this composition in a laminated-ferri structure
modelled on that used by MRAM devices from Freescale Semiconductor. The combination of the two
structures means that data can be compacted and rewritten using a smaller current density, in turn allowing
the transistors to be built with smaller dimensions. This enables the memory chip to store more bits, the
team claims. Preliminary tests revealed that bits can be rewritten to the element with a current density of
one million amperes/cm2, with the results also indicating a level of high thermal stability that would allow for
the bits to be stored for over a decade. The development raises the possibility of developing a
45-nanometer process to develop the MRAM chip, which might be capable of the gigabit storage capacity
of dynamic read access memory (DRAM). |
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