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Copper concentrate · verified buyers
Copper concentrate buyers are custom smelters and the trading houses that supply them, with China the largest market by far. They pay for the copper, gold and silver in your concentrate, minus treatment and refining charges and penalties for elements such as arsenic. On Copper Supply you can post a free selling offer, and members who buy concentrate are told within minutes.
Many Chinese smelters buy through traders or long-term contracts rather than directly from small mines. A trader is often the quickest route for a new producer.
China limits arsenic in imported copper concentrate, long set at 0.5% As, and also limits other harmful elements. Cargo above the limits can be refused at the port. Concentrate is inspected at discharge, often by CCIC. Check the current rules before you sign, because they can change.
Post a selling offer with grade, tonnage, loading point and assay. Price it as a % of LME on the Cu content, or open to offers. Listings stay live 90 days. Buyers ask for an introduction and you see what was checked before you reply. Copper Supply takes no commission.
Free to join. Copper Supply never holds trade money and takes no commission on deals.
Custom smelters and the trading houses that supply them. China has the largest group of smelters that import concentrate, followed by Japan, South Korea, India and Europe. New producers often sell through a trader first.
On the payable copper, gold and silver it contains, at the LME average over an agreed quotational period. The buyer then deducts treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) and penalties for harmful elements such as arsenic. Moisture is deducted, so payment is on dry tonnes.
The treatment charge (TC) is what the smelter charges to smelt a dry tonne of concentrate, in US$ per tonne. The refining charge (RC) is for refining the copper, in US cents per pound of payable copper. Both are deducted from the value of the concentrate and move with the supply of concentrate and smelter capacity.
Elements that are harmful or costly for the smelter, mainly arsenic, mercury, bismuth, antimony, lead, zinc, fluorine and chlorine. Above the limits in the contract the buyer deducts a penalty. Too much arsenic can make a concentrate unsellable in some countries.
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Post it free. Members who trade it get an email within minutes, and only ID-checked people can contact you.
Typical copper concentrate specification
Yes, China is the largest importer of copper concentrate. Imports must stay within China's limits for harmful elements, with arsenic long capped at 0.5%, and cargo is inspected at discharge. Many Chinese smelters buy through traders or term contracts, so a trader may be your first buyer.
Most traded concentrate is between about 20% and 40% copper, often 25% to 30%. Smelters care as much about penalty elements, moisture and consistency as about the copper grade. A clean 22% concentrate can be easier to sell than a 30% concentrate with high arsenic.
Where Central African copper is produced, the road and rail corridors it travels, and the warehouses where most trades are inspected and paid.
