The tightness in copper concentrates supply and suspensions at major mines resulting from strikes and accidents have pushed treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) for copper concentrates lower over the past two weeks.
Fastmarkets' Asia-Pacific TC/RC index dropped to $54.10 per tonne/5.41 cents per lb on Friday June 14, its lowest since the index launched in June 2013. It was $56.10 per tonne/5.61 cents per lb a week ago. The index has fallen by 8.1% since May 31, its fastest slump in seven-and-a-half months since copper concentrates TCs swung to a downturn trend at the end of November last year. Over 50% of workers at Codelco's second-largest copper mine, Chuquicamata, went on strike last Friday following the partial halt earlier this month at the company's largest copper mine, El Teniente, after a fatal accident. Material from Chuquicamata contains arsenic levels above China's China Inspection and Quarantine (CIQ) limits for importing, and as such is bought at a discount to the main market and blended with clean concentrates to level out these impurities. As several clean parcels are needed to blend out one parcel of complex concentrates,...