Metals and mining

Track inventory across the supply chain from pit to port.

Discover what ION can do for you

The largest businesses across the global metal value chain rely on ION Commodities solutions

With the energy transition comes increased demand for metals. Wind and solar are 37 times more copper-intensive than conventional
energy, and electric vehicle batteries drive the increased need for nickel and cobalt. Regulatory and macro-economic changes have
introduced considerable volatility into metals markets, bringing metals trading software and logistics management back to the forefront
for metals producers, traders, and end users.

Related sectors

  • Beneficiation

    Processes to extract valuable elements from raw materials into concentrates.

  • Manufacturing

    Manufacture of products for end users.

  • Metals trading

    Navigating the impacts of volatile market prices and demand and supply imbalances to increase trading profits.

  • Milling and fabrication

    Processing refined material into various standard shapes and forms.

  • Mining

    Extraction of raw ores and other mining outputs.

  • Smelting and refining

    Metallurgical processes to separate and purify metal elements.

Value delivered

  • Challenge

    Accurate material information

    Firms today need to integrate physical metals trading with scheduling. Because no two metal units are precisely the same in terms of exact weight and quality, the delivered metals may vary from what was originally contracted. With increased volatility and rising metals prices, tools for accurate, dynamic, and real-time risk reporting are a necessity.

    Solution

    Improve visibility of your physical positions

    Manage and view the full physical delivery details for metals — from mine to point of export — with ION’s commodity management solutions. Comparing fineness, grade and quality, adjustments, and matching actual physical delivery against the value of trades can expose any differences between expected and actual positions.

  • Challenge

    Optimizing the pricing and use of contract optionality for complex transactions

    Producers face many operational burdens across their business, especially when dealing with multiple pricing components and quotation periods. The metals trading platforms currently in use by many companies don’t give producers insights into how to provide guidance to traders and end users on how to work together optimally.

    Solution

    Unlock insights

    ION’s commodity management solutions provide extensive functionality for capturing and evaluating optionality in contracts. Our solutions use projected market data to provide a present value for each option, allowing producers to price it correctly. For end users, the systems automatically recommend the best use of the optionality available (how and when to exercise it) based on forward-looking prices.

  • Challenge

    Accurately capturing concentrates contracts

    Capturing and modeling complex contracts associated with concentrates is often managed with spreadsheets.

    Solution

    Reduce the time and effort required to manage concentrates contracts

    Our solutions cover both physical contracts and financial derivatives, including swaps and exotic options. You see an aggregated view of positions, risk, and P&L in a single solution, with the ability to drill-down to the transaction level in a single click. You can also decompose the exposure from more complex physical products, such as concentrates, scrap, and alloys, into their constituent products and compare against the relevant derivatives.

  • Challenge

    Understand the impact of changes in the macro environment on carry trades

    Low interest rates and quantitative easing (QE) policies have made the metals carry trade highly attractive for banks and trading firms. But profit from carry trades in base metals depends on the fairly thin margin achieved between the cost of capital and metals storage charges, along with the gradually appreciating price of the metal concerned.

    Solution

    Reduce the impact of price volatility and preserve margins

    ION’s commodity management solutions provide comprehensive stress testing of scenario impacts, such as a quarter-point change in overnight lending rates or the profitability of the portfolio over time. Our solutions also help manage the instruments required to hedge likely exposures—such as interest rate swaps, interest rate futures, and FRAs.

  • Challenge

    Complex value chains

    Several market participants now have global operations with large inventories and logistics operations, creating an added layer of complexity in managing risk. Large volumes of on and off exchange warrants can create operational nightmares.

    Solution

    Gain a global view of your physical materials

    ION’s commodity management solutions deliver fast storage, company-wide inventory reports, and retrieval of massive data quantities. They can scale as transaction volumes grow and they provide aggregated real-time position reporting to keep pace with even the largest trading operations.

Physical position clarity
Contract optionality
Concentrates contract management
Macro environment overview
Exposure and warrant management

Products

  • Algosys

    A metallurgical accounting solution for mass balancing and production reconciliation.

  • Aspect

    A multi-tenant, SaaS CTRM for liquid hydrocarbons and metals traders moving off spreadsheets.

  • Openlink

    A comprehensive, multi-commodity CTRM for industry leaders operating at scale.

  • Precious Metals

    A single solution for managing physical bullion inventory across the value chain.

  • Qmastor

    A supply chain management solution to simplify coal and mineral operations and logistics.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

  • Do ION Commodities solutions span the complete value chain?

    Our solutions enable the complete management of bulk materials from mine to point of export or consumption. Advanced mining software allows for the synchronization of operations, logistics, marketing, and commercial functions, providing a transparent view of export and domestic supply chain operations.

Latest Commodities news

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Chartis Research ranks ION Commodities as a leading technology provider for energy markets for the fourth time in a row

28 February 2024
London – 28 February 2024: ION Commodities, a global leader in energy and ...

ION recognized by IDC FinTech Rankings as a FastTrack FinTech company

4 December 2023
LONDON – 4 December 2023: ION, a leading global provider of trading, analytics, ...

ION Commodities wins CTRM Software House of the Year for the second consecutive year at Energy Risk Asia Awards 2023

10 October 2023
LONDON – 10 October 2023: ION Commodities, a leading provider of energy and ...

ION Commodities ranks #1 in Chartis Research’s Energy50, winning 12 awards

17 August 2023
LONDON – 17 August 2023: ION Commodities, a global leader in energy and ...

ION wins Stevie Award for Customer Service for seventh consecutive year

19 July 2023
LONDON – 19 July 2023: ION, the largest global provider of trading, analytics, ...

ION launches Carbon Zero for trading and managing carbon credits and environmental certificates

22 May 2023
London – 22 May 2023: ION, a leading provider of trading, risk, and ...

Latest Commodities awards

Chartis Research’s Energy50 survey 2024

Leading technology provider for energy markets

Energy Risk Awards 2023

Oil, Gas/LNG, power, metals and agriculture products

Energy Risk Awards 2023

Market analytics, model valuation and risk exposure management

Energy Risk Awards 2023

Emissions and green certificates