US sharemarkets were mixed on Wednesday but losses in the technology sector weighed on key indexes. Executives from Facebook and Twitter testified before Congress. Shares in Facebook lost 2.3% with Amazon down 2.2%, Netflix down 6.2% and Twitter down 6.1%. Oil stocks fell on a weaker oil price. The Dow Jones index rose by 22.5 points or 0.1% after trading in a 140 point range. The S&P 500 index fell by 0.3% and the Nasdaq lost 96 points or 1.2%.

Global oil prices fell by over 1% on Wednesday. Tropical Storm Gordon weakened and moved away from oil producers and refiners operating in the US Gulf Coast, reducing the risk of supply disruptions. Traders were watching developments in the US-China trade dispute and jitters in emerging markets. Brent crude fell by US90 cents or 1.2% to US$77.27 a barrel and the US Nymex price fell by US$1.15 or 1.6% to US$68.72 a barrel.

Base metal prices ended mixed on the London Metals Exchange (LME) on Wednesday. Copper, aluminium and zinc rose up to 1%with copper up the most. Other metals fell up to 1.6% with lead down the most.

The gold futures price rose by US$2.20 an ounce or 0.2% to $1,201.30 an ounce. The spot gold price was trading near US$1,197 an ounce in late US trade. Iron ore rose by US35 cents or 0.5% to US$67.05 a tonne.

Wednesday 5 September - close. The Australian share market closed lower on Wednesday, dragged down by a slump in the heavyweight mining sector as worries about a possible escalation of trade tensions hit commodity prices. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index ended the day down 62.7 points, or one per cent, at 6,230.4 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 59.7 points, or 0.93 per cent, at 6,339.2 points.

Alliance Mineral Assets Limited - Bald Hill Operations and Optimisation Study Update

Highlights:

• Total of 21,975 wmt (wet metric tonnes) of spodumene (lithium) concentrate produced in July and August
• Lithium concentrate produced is of a high quality – low levels of Fe, Na, K and mica
• 18,855 dmt (dry metric tonnes) of lithium concentrate shipped during July and August
• Lithium concentrate stockpiles of approximately 12,300 wmt as of 31 August
• 13.2 wmt tantalum pentoxide in concentrate produced
• Total of 243,182 tonnes of ore processed during July and August at an average throughput of 211 tph (tonnes per hour)
• Fines optimisation study well-advanced, targeting increased combined throughput to 300 tph
• The JV parties are targeting production of 60,000 to 75,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate during the 6 months between July and December 2018.
• TAW MD Mark Calderwood commented: “the Bald Hill JV is continuing to make excellent progress at the Bald Hill Mine and we are on track for our targeted production of concentrate by calendar year end. We remain fully focused on getting the project operating to its optimum level as soon as possible, and with the optimisation studies currently underway we anticipate making further significant gains in throughput increases.”
• Please contact the desk on +61 8 6169 2668 should you wish to discuss further