Who stole all those damn nickels?

[11C1P]

LME finds 'irregularities' in several nickel bags at a warehouse​

March 17 (Reuters) - The London Metal Exchange (LME) on Friday postponed the resumption of nickel trading during Asian hours by a week to March 27 after it found nickel that failed to meet contract specifications at an LME warehouse.

The move is another blow to the world's oldest and biggest industrial metals market, which had been counting on a restart of Asian trade to boost liquidity in a contact that has been struggling since a nickel crisis a year ago.


The LME said it had cancelled nine nickel warrants - an ownership document for metals placed in an LME-approved warehouse - at one warehouse facility, without naming it.

"The exchange has received information that a number of physical nickel shipments out of one specific facility of an LME-licensed warehouse operator have been subject to such irregularities," the statement said.

The announcement further undermines trust in the global nickel trade after trader Trafigura last month alleged that it discovered "systematic fraud" in shipments that did not contain nickel and begun legal proceedings against Indian businessman Prateek Gupta and his companies.


"We do not own any of the nine warrants that have been invalidated by the LME," Trafigura said. There is no connection with Trafigura's legal action against Gupta either, it added.

A spokesperson for Gupta has said that they were preparing "a robust response" to the allegations.

As each warrant equals about 6 tonnes, 54 tonnes were affected. The LME said the non-conformant warrants represent 0.14% of live nickel stock in its warehouses.

The 146-year-old LME said the issues with nickel related to bagged nickel briquettes, which were found to not have the correct weight.

It did not name the warehouse or its location.

The bags in question were at a warehouse owned by Access World in Rotterdam and contained stones instead of the nickel, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The LME declined to comment on the Bloomberg report and Access World did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.


The exchange said it had no reason to believe that any other LME facility was affected, but still called on all warehouse operators to undertake inspections of warranted nickel. To give them time to do that, it is postponing the reopening of Asian trading.

 

[Goldhedge]

Here's my 2c...

 

[Ttazzman]

Here's my 2c...

View attachment 7475

few years older and those 2c might be worth something in copper

 

[Newmisty]

few years older and those 2c might be worth something in copper

Zincolns are money

 

[Buck]

hmmmmm

short gold bars, short nickel bags,

what's really weird, they can't short the gold bars or bags of nickels i've got in my possession


what's gonna be next? short USD as the FedNow rolls in?

 

[Goldhedge]

It Turns Out That JPMorgan Bought the Nickel That Turned Out to Be Stones​

By Joe Wallace

At the port of Rotterdam in November.PIROSCHKA VAN DE WOUW/REUTERS

JPMorgan Chase owned bags of material kept in a Dutch warehouse that were supposed to contain nickel but turned out to be full of stones, people familiar with the matter said.

The London Metal Exchange said last week that sacks thought to hold 54 metric tons of nickel in an unnamed warehouse had failed to comply with its standards. The bags were in a shed in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, The Wall Street Journal and other outlets reported. The problem: They contained stones instead of a silvery metal used in steel and electric-vehicle batteries.

The LME didn't disclose the name of the company that believed itself to be the owner of nickel briquettes valued at $1.3 million at current prices. The firm was JPMorgan, according to the people, some of whom said the bank first bought the material several years ago.

The company that controls the warehouse, sprawling logistics firm Access World Group, was owned by miner and trader Glencore PLC at the time. In a statement, Access World said it is inspecting "warranted bags of nickel briquettes at all locations" and that it believes the issue to be "an isolated case and specific to one warehouse in Rotterdam."

Access World, rather than JPMorgan, is likely to face pressure to foot the bill because it is responsible for checking metal on entry and keeping it safe while it is in the shed. The LME has said it is working with the operator to find out what went wrong.

Wall Street banks aren't as active in physical commodity markets as they were a decade ago, when companies such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group shipped oil on tankers, stuffed metal into warehouses and shuttled sugar between continents. New regulations brought in after the 2008 financial crisis and a stretch of calm markets encouraged banks to pull back from trading commodities.

Still, JPMorgan remains a big player in metals, trading copper, aluminum, zinc and others on the LME as well as precious metals like gold.

JPMorgan was a major trading partner of China's Tsingshan Holding Group, and led discussions with other banks after a blowup in the metal giant's nickel trades spawned a crisis on the LME last year.

paywall

It Turns Out That JPMorgan Bought the Nickel That Turned Out to Be Stones

JPMorgan Chase owned bags of material kept in a Dutch warehouse that were supposed to contain nickel but turned out to be full of stones, people familiar with the matter said. The London Metal Exchange said last week that sacks thought to hold 54 metric tons of nickel in an unnamed warehouse had [f

www.wsj.com

 

[Goldhedge]

Talk about getting stoned!

Good question!

 

[Ttazzman]

Talk about getting stoned!

Good question!

maybe they will take delivery and audit all the physical silver they are supposed to be holding