Copper Concentrate (20–30% Cu)
Sulphide flotation concentrate by Cu, Au, Ag and penalty elements — priced on payable metal less TC/RC
Copper concentrate is not sold by the tonne of material; it is sold by the metal inside it. A flotation concentrate from a porphyry or sediment-hosted sulphide mine runs 20–30% Cu (chalcopyrite concentrates cluster at 24–28%, bornite and chalcocite concentrates reach 30–40%), and the smelter pays for a percentage of that copper — typically 96.5–97% of the assay, less a fixed unit deduction — at the LME price averaged over a quotational period, then deducts a treatment charge per dry tonne and a refining charge per pound of payable copper. Gold above a threshold of roughly 1 g/t and silver above roughly 30 g/t are paid as credits at their own payable rates, and a clean Chilean concentrate at 26% Cu with 3 g/t Au and 60 g/t Ag is worth materially more than the same copper grade without them. The penalty elements are the other half of the sheet: arsenic (penalised above 0.2%, with many smelters refusing above 0.5% and the Chinese import limit at 0.5%), antimony, bismuth, mercury, fluorine, lead and zinc each carry a deduction per unit over the threshold, because they either poison the anode or cost the smelter to abate. Moisture sits at 8–10% and is deducted before anything is paid. On the trade, UN Comtrade 2025 export declarations under HS 2603 show Chile at 3.59 million MT to 17 partners at an average around USD 10,800/MT of concentrate: China 2.38 million MT (66%) at USD 10,767, Japan 543,000 MT at USD 10,906, India 203,000 MT at USD 10,920, Korea 173,000 MT at USD 10,802, then Germany, Spain, Bulgaria and Finland — the world's custom smelters in order of size. Peru, the second seaborne exporter, has not reported 2025 under HS 2603, so its figure is not quoted here.
The buyer is a custom smelter without enough captive mine feed, and the tightness of that market — new Chinese, Indian and Indonesian smelting capacity chasing a flat concentrate supply — is why treatment and refining charges have compressed and why mid-tier miners and traders can place parcels that a few years ago went only to majors' term offtake. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers copper concentrate parcels from trader and mid-tier miner allocations in Chile, Peru, Indonesia, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo against SGS, Alfred H Knight or Bureau Veritas sampling and assay of Cu, Au, Ag, As, Sb, Bi, Hg, Pb, Zn, F and moisture on a dry basis, with umpire assay written in and the payable, deduction and penalty schedule agreed line by line before the parcel is fixed. Concentrate is an IMSBC Code Group A cargo that can liquefy if shipped above its transportable moisture limit, so the shipper's TML and moisture certificate is a condition of loading; parcels move in Handysize and Supramax lots on FOB and CIF terms out of Antofagasta, Callao, Matarani and Dar es Salaam, or in 20-foot containers with liners for 500–3,000 MT trial and Central African lots, and because CBIL also runs a chartering desk (LaycanDesk), the freight leg with its Group A survey terms is quoted alongside the concentrate. Send your Cu range, arsenic ceiling, the gold and silver payables you work to and your discharge port, and we will work the parcel to it.
Need the ship as well? Our chartering desk prices concentrate freight, Group A cargoes on LaycanDesk.
Indicative reference
$9,500–11,500 (per MT concentrate at 25–28% Cu) USD / MT
as at September 2026
Reference level only — not an offer, and reviewed quarterly. Levels shown are as at September 2026. Firm pricing is quoted per RFQ, subject to volume, terms and inspection.
Typical Specification
Specifications are indicative and adjusted to the agreed contract and destination requirements. Final spec confirmed on COA / SGS.
Available Grades
Applications
- Custom copper smelting & electrorefining (cathode)
- Anode copper & blister
- Gold and silver recovery from anode slimes
- Sulphuric acid by-product
Category
Metals & Recycled Scrap
Incoterms
FOB · CFR · CIF
Pricing basis
USD / MT
Inspection
SGS / Intertek at load port
Copper Concentrate (20–30% Cu) — buyer questions
How is copper concentrate priced, and what are TC/RC?
The smelter pays for payable copper — a percentage of the assayed Cu, less a unit deduction — at the LME copper price averaged over an agreed quotational period, and adds credits for gold and silver above their thresholds. From that it deducts the treatment charge (TC), a fee per dry tonne of concentrate, and the refining charge (RC), a fee per pound of payable copper; together they are the smelter's income for converting concentrate into cathode. They are negotiated annually between the majors and the large smelters and set the benchmark, but spot parcels trade at their own TC/RC, which moves with how short the smelters are of feed. Penalties for arsenic, antimony, bismuth, mercury, fluorine, lead and zinc over threshold are deducted on top.
Why does arsenic matter so much?
Because arsenic follows the copper into the anode and the acid plant, and the smelter has to abate it. Concentrate under 0.2% As is clean and takes no penalty; between 0.2% and 0.5% it is penalised per unit; above 0.5% it cannot be imported into China directly and has to be blended down at a terminal first, which costs money and narrows the list of buyers. State the arsenic assay on the first line of any offer, with antimony, bismuth and mercury beside it — a smelter will not read the copper grade until it has seen them.
What sampling and assay govern settlement?
Sampling at loading and again at discharge by an independent agency — SGS, Alfred H Knight or Bureau Veritas — with each side assaying its own split and the results exchanged; where they differ by more than the splitting limit, a named umpire laboratory decides. Moisture is determined on the same sample and deducted first, so all payables are on dry tonnes. Weighing is by draft survey or weighbridge at the discharge port unless the contract says otherwise.
What parcel sizes and load ports do you work, and why is it a Group A cargo?
Handysize (10–30,000 MT) and Supramax parcels out of Antofagasta, Mejillones, Callao and Matarani for Chilean and Peruvian concentrate, and containerised or breakbulk lots for Indonesian, Zambian and Congolese material into Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Korean smelters. Concentrate is a fine, damp mineral cargo that can liquefy at sea if its moisture is above the transportable moisture limit, so the IMSBC Code makes the shipper's TML and moisture certificate a condition of loading. Because CBIL also runs a chartering desk, the freight leg is quoted with those survey terms alongside the concentrate.
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