Chilean miner Antofagasta has agreed a deal with Chinese smelter Jinchuan Group for processing and refining fees of $80 per ton and 8 cents per pound for copper concentrate supplies next year, three sources said on Saturday.
The fees miners pay smelters to process ore into refined metals are 9 per cent below the 2023 benchmark of $88 a tonne, 8.8 cents a pound, agreed around the same time last year.
Antofagasta declined to comment, and Jinchuan did not respond to requests for comment.
Global miners and China's largest smelter typically negotiate copper concentrate contracts at this time of year and settle TC/ rc for the following year.
TC/ rc rises when more supply is available and smelters can demand better feedstock terms, and falls when supply tightens.
Jinchuan is China's fourth-largest copper producer. It is unclear whether other smelters will agree to the same price in negotiations with Antofagasta and other miners.
A source said some large smelters would discuss the issue on Saturday. The source declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Copper prices this year are set by global mining company Freeport-McMoRan Inc. Settings. Smelters in both the US and China are trading at six-year highs.
Market participants polled by Reuters ahead of this week's talks mostly forecast that the 2024 TC benchmark would remain at or below this year's levels.
Copper concentrate supplies are expected to be plentiful next year, and large Chinese copper smelters have raised the TC/ rc floor to a six-year high of $95 /9.5c in the third and fourth quarters due to ample supplies.
However, recently the processing of FM ore in first Quantum minerals has decreased. Sources told Reuters this week that negotiations TO Cobre next year's fees for the Panama mine had been complicated by the protests.
Uncertainty about how much FCX will be supplied from Freeport-McMoran. The export license for Indonesia's N Grasberg mine is due to expire next June, which also creates some difficulties in forecasting the market balance.
