A commodity market is a marketplace — either physical or virtual — in which raw or primary products such as metals, minerals, and energy resources are bought, sold, and traded, typically in standardised quantities and qualities. For the mining industry, commodity markets for bauxite, aluminium, gold, iron ore, and diamonds are central to determining the revenues that mining companies receive for their products and therefore the economic viability of their operations. Gold is traded on commodity exchanges such as the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) and COMEX, with its price denominated in US dollars per troy ounce and influenced by factors including global inflation expectations, currency movements, geopolitical risk, and central bank purchasing behaviour. Iron ore is predominantly traded via long-term contracts and spot transactions referenced against benchmark indices such as the Platts IODEX or The Steel Index (TSI), reflecting demand from Chinese steel producers. Diamond markets, historically controlled through De Beers' single-channel selling system, have evolved into more open spot and auction-based transactions. Bauxite and alumina are largely traded under long-term supply agreements between mining companies and aluminium smelters, with pricing often linked to the London Metal Exchange (LME) aluminium price.
