Copper concentrate · verified buyers
Copper concentrate 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.
Live copper concentrate buying requests
2 live now- BuyingMonthlyCS-45E573
Buying 50,000 MT a monthCopper concentrate
- Price
- 75% of LME on the Cu content
- Deliver to
- CIF · China
Origins accepted: Any originYussif BabaUnverified7 h ago
- BuyingMonthlyCS-16D18E
Buying 1,000 MT a monthCopper concentrate
25% Cu average · Cu 25%
- Price
- Negotiable
- Deliver to
- CFR · Chattogram, Bangladesh
Origins accepted: Zambia, Peru, South Africa
Mario Federico Talavera CamposAlpha Century Consulting LLCID checked9 h ago
Who buys copper concentrate
- Custom smelters that do not own enough mines to feed themselves. The largest group is in China, followed by Japan, South Korea, India and Europe (Spain, Germany, Bulgaria).
- Trading houses that buy from many mines, blend lots, arrange shipping and sell to smelters on term or spot contracts.
- Regional smelters in Zambia and the DRC that buy local concentrate by truck.
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.
What smelters need from you
- A full assay of every lot: Cu, Au, Ag, moisture and the penalty elements As, Hg, Bi, Sb, Pb, Zn, F and Cl
- Consistency. Smelters plan their feed blend months ahead and pay more for a steady, predictable material.
- Legal export: mining licence, export permit and certificate of origin
- Safe shipping: moisture below the transportable moisture limit (TML) under the IMSBC Code
Selling to China
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.
Payment terms
- Provisional payment, often around 90% of the estimated value, against shipping documents, by letter of credit or TT
- Final payment after the final weight and assay exchange, at the LME average for the agreed quotational period
- Splitting limits and an umpire lab to settle assay differences
How to post an offer
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.
Typical copper concentrate specification
- Copper
- Typically 20% to 40% Cu; many clean concentrates are 25% to 30%
- Minerals
- Mainly chalcopyrite, with bornite or chalcocite in richer concentrates
- Moisture
- Typically about 8% to 10%, below the transportable moisture limit (TML) for sea shipment
- Payable copper
- Commonly about 96.5% of the Cu content, with a minimum deduction of about 1 unit
- Precious metals
- Gold and silver paid when above minimum levels set in the contract
- Penalty elements
- As, Hg, Bi, Sb, Pb, Zn, F, Cl above contract limits; China caps As in imports at 0.5%
- Charges
- Treatment charge in US$ per dry tonne, refining charge in US¢ per lb of payable Cu
- Shipping
- Bulk vessel or containers; a Group A cargo under the IMSBC Code
Buying instead?
Where it usually comes from
Where it usually goes
- China
- Japan
- South Korea
- India
- Spain
- Germany
- Bulgaria
Documents you'll see
- SCO or FCO with grade range and loading point
- LOI or ICPO from the buyer
- SPA with sampling, assay exchange and umpire clauses
- Full assay from an accredited lab, including penalty elements
- Independent sampling and weighing: SGS, Bureau Veritas, Alfred H Knight (AHK) or CCIC
- Mining licence and export permit
- Certificate of origin
- Moisture and TML certificate for sea shipment
- Bill of lading
- Final weight and assay certificates
Red flags
- An assay that shows copper only, with no arsenic, mercury or other penalty elements
- A fixed price far below the value of the contained copper, with no mention of TC/RCs
- Tens of thousands of tonnes a month from an unnamed mine or a company with no mining licence
- Refusal of independent sampling at loading, or insistence on the seller's own lab only
- Requests for mine registration, export permit or allocation fees before any sample
- A grade far higher than the named mine is known to produce
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
Who buys copper concentrate?
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.
How is copper concentrate priced?
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.
What are TC/RCs in copper concentrate?
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.
What are penalty elements in copper concentrate?
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.
Can I sell copper concentrate to China?
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.
What grade of copper concentrate do smelters buy?
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.
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 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.
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 guide
Copper countries
- Copper in DR Congoproducer
- Copper in Zambiaproducer
- Copper in Tanzaniatrading hub
- Copper in South Africaproducer and consumer
- Copper in Namibiaproducer
- Copper in Zimbabweproducer
- Copper in Mozambiquetrading hub
- Copper in Chileproducer
- Copper in Peruproducer
- Copper in Chinaproducer and consumer
- Copper in Indiaconsumer
- Copper in Turkeyconsumer
- Copper in South Koreaconsumer
Other copper products
Have copper concentrate to sell?
Post it free. Members who trade it get an email within minutes, and only ID-checked people can contact you.