Blister copper · buyers, suppliers and prices
Blister copper: verified buyers and sellers
Blister copper is impure copper, typically about 98% to 99.5% Cu, cast by a smelter before it is refined into cathode. Smelters in Zambia, the DRC and Namibia sell it, and copper refineries and traders in China, India and Europe buy it. On Copper Supply you can post a free requirement or offer and deal only with members who have passed an ID check.
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Post it freeHow blister copper is priced
Blister is priced on its payable copper at the LME average over an agreed quotational period, minus a refining charge, plus payable gold and silver, minus penalties for impurities above the limits. The refining charge covers the cost of turning blister into cathode, and moves with supply and demand for refining capacity.
In African trade, blister is often sold more simply, as LME minus a discount in US$ per tonne or %, at a smelter gate or bonded warehouse. The discount reflects the copper content, impurities, location and payment terms.
Payment is usually provisional against shipping documents, then final after the assay exchange, or TT after inspection for trial lots. On Copper Supply you can price a blister listing as a % of LME on the Cu content, LME − US$/t, LME ± %, a fixed price, or open to offers.
Find a counterparty
Typical blister copper specification
- Copper
- Typically about 98% to 99.5% Cu
- Form
- Cakes, slabs or ingots cast at the smelter, with a blistered surface
- Impurities
- Sulphur, oxygen, iron, nickel, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, lead; limits set in the contract
- Precious metals
- Gold and silver often present and payable above set minimums
- Next step
- Fire-refined into anodes, then electrorefined into cathode
- Sampling
- Drilled or sawn samples under an agreed method
- Transport
- By truck to port, then containers or break bulk
Documents you'll see
- SCO or FCO naming the smelter
- LOI or ICPO from the buyer
- SPA with sampling, assay exchange and umpire clauses
- Smelter assay of each lot, including impurities and precious metals
- Independent sampling and weighing: SGS, Bureau Veritas or Alfred H Knight (AHK)
- Export licence
- Certificate of origin
- Weighbridge tickets and packing list
- Warehouse receipt or proof of storage
- Bill of lading
Red flags
- A smelter you cannot find, or more tonnage than the named smelter produces
- An assay showing only copper, with no impurities or precious metals
- A price close to cathode, or far below the value of the contained copper
- Requests for release, insurance or registration fees before inspection
- Refusal of independent sampling and weighing
How Copper Supply works
- Step 1Post freeSay what you buy or sell: product, tonnage, price basis, delivery terms. Fraud checks run before it goes live.
- Step 2Matching traders hear in minutesMembers who trade that product get an email as soon as your listing is live, and every Monday in the market report.
- Step 3Talk only to checked peopleNobody can message you until they've passed an ID check. You see what we checked and choose who to talk to.
- Step 4Run the deal in one roomNCNDA, LOI/ICPO, offers, SPA, IMFPA and signatures in one private deal room. Run any document through a fraud check before money moves.
Free to join. Copper Supply never holds trade money and takes no commission on deals.
Questions people ask
What is blister copper?
Blister copper is impure copper, typically about 98% to 99.5% Cu, produced by a smelter from copper matte. It gets its name from the blisters on its surface left by gas released as it cools. It is fire-refined into anodes and then electrorefined into cathode.
How is blister copper priced?
On the payable copper at the LME average over an agreed period, minus a refining charge, plus payable gold and silver, minus penalties for impurities. In African trade it is often sold more simply at a discount to the LME.
Who buys blister copper?
Copper refineries with anode furnaces and electrorefining, integrated smelters and the trading houses that supply them. China and India have the largest refining capacity.
Where does blister copper come from in Africa?
From copper smelters, mainly in Zambia, the DRC and Namibia. A real offer names the smelter, and the tonnage should fit what that smelter produces.
What is the difference between blister and anode copper?
Blister is the first metallic copper out of the converter, at about 98% to 99.5% Cu. Anode copper has been fire-refined further and cast into plates with lugs, ready to hang in an electrorefining cell.
How is blister copper sampled?
Usually by drilling or sawing pieces from each lot under an agreed method, then assaying the samples at independent labs. The contract should name the method, the labs, the splitting limits and an umpire lab.
Guides
How deals work3 min read
How a physical copper deal really works, step by step
From the first introduction to delivery: the eight stages of a real copper trade, who does what at each one, and where deals usually break.
Read the guideDocuments2 min read
Inspection certificates: what SGS, AHK and CCIC reports actually prove
Independent inspection is the backbone of safe copper trading. What an inspector checks, which report you need at which stage, and how to verify one.
Read the guideThe market2 min read
From mine to port: how African copper reaches buyers
Where Central African copper is produced, the road and rail corridors it travels, and the warehouses where most trades are inspected and paid.
Read the guidePayment3 min read
Payment terms that actually close copper deals
Most deals die on payment, not price. The structures that work in African copper, the ones that never do, and how to bridge the gap between test-first buyers and pay-first sellers.
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