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Copper concentrate · verified sellers
Copper concentrate suppliers are mines with a flotation plant and the traders who buy their output. A real supplier can name the mine, show a mining and export licence, give a full assay and accept independent sampling at loading. On Copper Supply every member passes an ID check, and you can post a free buying requirement so sellers come to you.
Concentrate comes from a named mine with a concentrator. A real supplier, or a trader with written authority from one, can tell you the mine, its licence number, its monthly output and where the material is stored or loaded. Volumes match the mine: a small African plant may produce a few hundred to a few thousand tonnes a month, not 50,000 MT.
The supplier talks in the language of the trade: wet and dry tonnes, payable copper, TC/RCs, quotational period, penalty elements and moisture limits.
Post a buying requirement with the grade range, penalty limits, tonnage, delivery point and pricing basis. It is free. Members who sell concentrate get an email within minutes, and the Monday market report shows it to everyone. You choose who to talk to.
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.