Of the metals, copper is showing a strong performance, with increasing prices on the London Metal Exchange.

Evaluation of the three-month copper futures has registered a steady increase for a fourth day in running. In what has been the best positive growth in the whole month, the metal reflected a 1.1 per cent increase in prices.

As of 09:00 BST on September 6th, copper was available for the asking price of $7,631.50 per metric ton (MT).

On the other hand, nickel was available for $2,1875 per MT while zinc could be purchased by paying $2,132.50 per MT. Lead registered an asking price of $2,137 per MT.

The prices of tin registered at $2,1450 per MT while steel was going for the price of $485.50 per MT. Meanwhile, aluminium could be purchased for $2,128.50 per MT.
 

The Bluecycle salvage van continues on its way to Mongolia

Sorry for the temporary absence, Yahoo and similar internet sites just dont exist in Iran or Turkmenistan. Batumi seems a lomg time ago now, which is where I left it last time. From there we drove through rural Georgia to Svameti, a moumtaimous region bordering Russia in the north of the country. The drive took us through some beautiful country, rollimg hills with vinyards, gradually getting steeper as we came into Svaneti, with awesome Alpine scenery, wild flower meadows, waterfalls amd glaciers. The 300 kilometre circular route we did meant that really there was no turning back and no other way out if we had problems, and the ‘roads’ were truly atrocious, we were often going along semi dry river beds and across routes that even the local 4×4s baulked at. The little Suzuki did us proud, taking every rock, rut and pothole in her stride and our confidence in her ability really took a boast.

We crossed the Azerbaijan border a couple of days later and made our way to Baku, where we had an appointment with the Uzbek ambassador, to pick up our visas. Baku’s a big city and we ‘lost’ the van twice that day, which for a little while was extremely worrying, and taught me to take a photo of its location after I park up in towns. From Baku we drove south to the town of Qobustan to see some mud volcanoes en route to Iran. The mud volcanoes consisted of a ring of bubbling mud cones on top of a desolate hill above the featureless plains of southern Azerbaijan, a rather alien experience rather like a scene from Star Trek.

It was at this point that Andy and I parted company. Andy’s visa for Iran had never come through and therefore all he could do was get a flight to Uzbekistan and meet me at Bukhara. Being a lone driver across Iran and Turkmenistan wasn’t somethig I was relishing, merely crossing the border was a feat in itself. The borders had got progressively worse, culminatimg in a 7 hour ordeal at the Azerbaijan/Iran border, which continued into the next day as the Iranian customs house had closed the day before, leaving the van stranded in no-mans land. From the border I took a rather circuitous route that took me 2000 miles down through Iranian kurdistan, across to Esfahan and down to Yazd in the middle of the Iranian desert. The people were fantastic, warm, welcoming and very very curious. I was invited back to peoples’ homes for meals and even to sleep everyday. The towns and sites I visited were fantastic, and the scenery always on a grand scale – plains desert and mountains. A superb country to travel through, sadly largely avoided.

In the aftermath of the global economic downturn, the sale of used cars was no doubt boosted by more people looking for cheap deals.

Despite fall in the number of cars actually sold, the growth was buoyed by second-hand vehicles

Tony Gannon, communications director at BCA, pointed out that the used car industry in the UK has improved at catering to the needs of motorists.

He added: "And it is this ability to provide a broad range of products at every price point, with a good choice of 'value adds' such as warranties and servicing packages, that we believe sustained this crucial revenue stream in 2009."

In other news, the BCA will be giving classic car lovers the unique opportunity to buy a vintage Royal Mail Morris Minor at an upcoming auction on September 13th. 

Motoring expert RoadSafe, which works towards improving the driving standards on Britain's roads, has recently endorsed a tool launched by a2om doc.

The online tool has been developed to assess motoring risk faced by drivers. This not only helps to improve the safety of drivers but also has the add-on benefit of increasing business efficiency.

Adrian Walsh, director of RoadSafe, said: "The research behind this new business support software and its ease of use, as well as its graphic appeal, makes it a prime choice for use in a wide range of businesses, notably where company car drivers are busy or based away from a controlled office environment."

RoadSafe runs the Driving for Better Business programme backed by the government. Recently, the road safety expert joined forces with BT and Tesco, two of the champion members, to encourage commercial drivers in Wales to adopt better road risk management at work. 

It has been pointed out by the Environment Agency that running a waste site without permission from the right authority could cost owners up to £20,000 or even land them in prison.

At the end of their working lives cars can be a major source of pollution, but fines can be easily avoided by keeping to required standards of environmental safe-keeping.

Car salvage traders need to ensure that they clean up each car that arrives in their yard to ensure that harmful fluids like oil, petrol and coolant does not leak into the surface of the earth.

The agency also advises waste site managers to make sure that they remove tyres and airbags from all scrap vehicles under their charge.

It is important for car salvage yards to ensure eco-friendly storage of old cars as business is set to boom further with more people looking for cheap deals when looking for replacement parts. 

These fraudulent claims are no doubt leading honest drivers of salvaged cars and other vehicles to pay more on their policies as providers try to safeguard themselves.

Insurance expert Swiftcover.com noted that an increasing number of motorists were trying to claim regular wear and tear undergone by their vehicles on their car insurance policies.

Some of the tricks used by dishonest drivers included having an MOT check being conducted on their vehicles and then going on to claim it as a free service on their policies.

Motorists were also asking garages to carry out car repairs that were completely unrelated to their specific insurance claims, pointed out Swiftcover.com.

Recently, findings made public by the Co-operative Insurance found that car insurance fraud had pushed the costs of insuring vehicles to £1.25 billion each year. 

GEM Motoring Assist has pointed out that often drivers fail to ensure that vehicles used to transport children meet regulatory standards.

The motoring experts have urged parents to take an active interest in the modes of transport used by their children on a regular basis.

"That's why we are urging any parents whose children use coaches, minibuses and private hire taxis, to ensure that head teachers ask for regular inspections of driving licences, permits, CRB checks and any other appropriate documents," said David Williams, chief executive of GEM Motoring Assist.

This news follows from recent doubts that have been cast of the credibility of motorists as a large number of drivers have been found to be making fraudulent claims on their car insurance policies.

It has been estimated that fake claims has raised insurance costs to £1.25 billion each year.

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has announced that it is considering the option of introducing these contracts that will affect trading in its derivatives markets.

However, it will be only non-ferrous metals that will be initially affected by this change.

The plans for future contracts were born out of the SGX's association with the London Metal Exchange (LME).

At present, the four contracts that are being deliberated upon are – Primary Aluminium Futures Contract, Nickel Futures Contract, LME-SGX Copper Futures Contract and Zinc Futures Contract.

As of 10:00 (BST) on September 1st 2010, the asking price of aluminium was registered as $2045 per MT, while Nickel was available for $20710 per MT.

Copper could be purchased by paying $7355.50 per MT and zinc had clocked up an asking price of $2047 per MT. 

Some permits allow the intake of general scrap metals, batteries, oils, timber and plastics as well as end-of-life vehicles (ELVs).

However, the terms and conditions of these permits need to be examined by car salvage professionals to see whether they have included all the relevant "Activity Specific" elements when enrolling for their Continuing Competence tests.

These may include elements such as metal recycling or hazardous and non-hazardous waste transfer and treatment.

"If you do not do this you could lose your currently agreed Technical Competence for the Activities you omit to take," warned the BVSF.

The organisation recently reminded those in the car salvage industry that the DVLA began issuing a new-look V5C from August 15th. 

The data from What Car? Target Price, the magazine's monthly mystery shop of new car deals, found the average discount buyers will be able to get from a new vehicle this September is £248 less than it was in the same month in 2009.

This is despite a recent poll by the magazine finding that car buyers consider discounts more important than any other incentive, with 58 per cent saying they would prefer it to an extended warranty.

"Even though discounts are down, it still pays to sniff out the best car deals online before you go shopping," commented What Car? editor-in-chief Steve Fowler.

Autoquake.com recently revealed that the BMW 3 Series is the most desirable used car according to the website's users, followed by the Audi A4 and BMW 5 Series.