LME Rocked by New Nickel Scandal After Finding Bags of Stones

Problem found at Access World Rotterdam warehouse. Metal had been registered in the warehouse since early 2022

ByJack Farchy, Mark Burton and Archie Hunter
March 17, 2023, 2:58 PM

The London Metal Exchange has discovered bags of stones instead of the nickel that underpinned a handful of its contracts at a warehouse in Rotterdam, in a revelation that will deliver another blow to confidence in the embattled exchange.

The amount of metal represents just 0.14% of live nickel inventories on the LME, worth about $1.3 million at current prices, so the immediate impact on metals markets is limited. But the shock announcement has much wider implications: in an industry riddled with scandals, the LME’s contracts are viewed as unquestionably safe. The news that even a few of them have been compromised will raise fresh questions about its systems and procedures while the 146-year old exchange is still wading through the fallout of its last nickel crisis...


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-17/lme-finds-irregularities-in-nickel-underlying-nine-contracts#xj4y7vzkg