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Mitsui & Co, the Japanese trading and investment conglomerate, secured the right to offtake 40% of copper concentrate to be produced from Argentina’s Josemaria copper deposit over the life of the operation, the company said on Wednesday March 11. The offtake right was acquired from the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) through a public tender process.
Josemaria, located in San Juan Province, Argentina, is owned by Vicuña Corp, a 50-50 joint venture between BHP and Lundin Mining, and contains approximately 4.6 million tonnes of copper, positioning it among the largest copper deposits in the region. First production is expected to commence as early as 2030.
The Josemaria deposit is part of the larger Vicuña district, which the joint venture is targeting to produce approximately 395,000 tonnes of copper concentrate per year over the first 25 years of operation, according to a preliminary economic assessment released in February.
The deal builds on Mitsui’s existing long-standing arrangements with Collahuasi and Anglo American Sur, “further strengthening Mitsui’s position as a leading trader of copper concentrate through our extensive global network,” the company said. Mitsui added that it remains committed to “ensuring a stable and reliable supply of copper to support growing demand driven by the energy transition and advancing technologies.”
On the same day, Fortescue Ltd, the Australian diversified iron ore miner expanding into copper, confirmed that its wholly owned subsidiary, Nascent Exploration Pty Ltd, had completed the acquisition of all issued and outstanding common shares of Alta Copper Corp not already owned by Fortescue. Alta Copper shareholders received cash consideration of C$1.40 per share, implying a total equity value of approximately C$139 million.
As a result, Fortescue is now the 100% owner of the Cañariaco Copper Project located in Northern Peru within an emerging porphyry copper corridor. The project comprises 91 square kilometres of highly prospective tenure that hosts several deposits.
Gus Pichot, Fortescue Growth and Energy Chief Executive Officer, said that “copper is a core pillar of Fortescue’s growth and diversification strategy” and that the acquisition “strengthens Fortescue’s copper portfolio and provides exposure to a significant undeveloped resource within an emerging porphyry corridor in Northern Peru”. Pichot added that Fortescue’s immediate focus would be “on technical reviews, community engagement and advancing the studies required to inform future development decisions.”
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Over the past six months, major trading houses and smelters have secured a series of offtake agreements and prepayment facilities. In October 2025, Chilean state copper producer Codelco offered long-term concentrate offtake agreements lasting “20 [or] 30 years” to investors planning new smelting projects in Chile.
In November, Germany’s Aurubis AG signed a memorandum of understanding for a long-term copper concentrate supply contract with Swedish mining company Viscaria, with the offtake agreement expected to cover around 50% of Viscaria’s projected copper concentrate output over an initial eight-year period from 2028 onward.
In January, major trading houses Mercuria and Glencore secured copper concentrate offtake agreements totaling at least $450 million in prepayment financing, with Mercuria signing for 195,000 wet metric tonnes from Bulgaria’s Ellatzite mine and Glencore agreeing to finance and offtake concentrate from Orion Minerals’ Prieska copper-zinc project in South Africa for between $200 million and $250 million.
The concentrate market “remains extremely tight”, according to Fastmarkets principal analyst Rory Deng, who forecasts the Fastmarkets TC index to average $(68.50) per tonne in 2026 and around $(42) per tonne in 2027.
Fastmarkets calculated the weekly copper concentrates TC index, cif Asia Pacific — the midpoint between smelter and trader buying level — at $(83.40) per tonne on March 6, down by $3.10 per tonne from $(80.30) per tonne a week prior.
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