China Copper became the head negotiator in the settlement of the 2021 copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RC) benchmark following years of expansion in copper capacity.
On Monday December 14, the subsidiary of Chinalco - which has outgrown its state-owned peers - became the first smelter to secure a deal with US copper miner Freeport-McMoRan at $59.50 per tonne/5.95 cents per lb.For more than a decade, Jiangxi Copper had been the usual benchmark setter from the smelter side after taking over from its Japanese peers to settle the benchmark with miners, with the one exception being the 2018 benchmark settled between...