The copper concentrate processing and refining fees (TC/RCs) of Chinese smelters continued to decline last week due to the impact of the mine strike in Chile and the delay in the expansion of another mine. The Agus weekly purchasing index for smelters dropped from -44.60 US dollars/ton and -4.46 cents/pound on December 31 to -45.20 US dollars/ton and -4.52 cents/pound on January 9. The trading index for traders rose from -102.3 US dollars/ton and -10.23 cents/pound to -101.60 US dollars/ton and -10.16 cents/pound due to the narrowing gap between the trading price and the smelter's purchase price. The Agus weekly average copper concentrate TC/RC index rose from -73.45 US dollars/ton and -7.345 cents/pound on December 31 to -73.40 US dollars/ton and -7.34 cents/pound on January 9. One batch of 10,000 tons of clean ore was purchased by the smelter at a processing fee of -46 US dollars/ton, with a quotation period of M+1/5 and delivery in February. Another batch of 20,000 tons of Cerro Verde concentrate was sold at -45 US dollars/ton. One batch of 15,000 tons of Kamoa-Kakula concentrate is said to have been sold at -46-47 US dollars/ton. The Canadian mining company Capstone Copper's Mantoverde copper-gold mine in Chile's capacity will be reduced to 30% of the normal capacity due to the strike by half of the workers on January 2. The 70% of Mantoverde mine is held by Capstone, and the cathode copper production is usually 60,000 tons per year. Some market participants stated that the liquidity of the spot market is increasingly low. Due to the structural shortage of ore, they expect that the spot processing fees will remain low in the coming years. Market participants estimated that due to the sharp increase in copper prices and the adjustment of new energy industry policies, the growth of copper demand in China is expected to slow down this year, but this is unlikely to fundamentally alleviate the shortage of copper concentrate supply. Mining News China's major copper producers Tongling Copper have postponed the second phase of the Mirador copper mine in Ecuador due to political uncertainty. The capacity of this phase is 104,000 tons per year. The specific start date of the second phase of the project is still uncertain. Agus' Daily有色金属 Market Report covers the global有色金属 market and provides a series of daily price evaluations, as well as key market dynamics and analyses provided by Agus' professional teams worldwide. Market coverage： Rare metals - Electronics, batteries, light metals and high-temperature metals, Light rare earths and medium-heavy rare earths, Ferroalloys - Bulk and specialty alloys, and ore raw materials, Basic metals - Transaction data, premiums and exclusive price evaluations/indices. Copper scrap and recycled alloys
Argus has launched a copper concentrate average index to show the average purchase price of TC/RC by smelters and traders, helping market participants better cope with supply-demand imbalances and fulfill regular contracts. The new index is updated every Friday and generates a monthly average at the end of each month. It is published in the Argus Daily Copper and Aluminium Market Report and the Argus Metal website.
