The function of treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) for copper concentrates is being partially displaced by a broader set of commercial levers amid elevated byproduct values – including readjusted gold and silver payables, sulfuric acid tolling arrangements between miners and smelters, and renewed trade in gold-bearing pyrite materials – copper concentrates market participants told Fastmarkets at CESCO Week 2026 in Santiago, Chile, from April 13-17.

South32 said on April 30 that first production from its 4.3-million-tonne-per-year Taylor zinc-lead-silver project in Arizona has been delayed to the first half of the 2028 calendar year.

Own-sourced copper output from Glencore’s African copper assets — KCC and Mutanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo — surged by 68% year on year to 67,900 tonnes over the same period, while Glencore’s cobalt production fell by 39% year on year amid the DRC’s export quota system.

Copper in concentrate production from Ivanhoe Mines' Kamoa-Kakula complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) fell to 61,906 tonnes in the first quarter, down by 54% from 133,120 tonnes a year earlier, with the company now evaluating local third-party concentrate purchases to advance the ramp-up of its on-site smelter, according to an April 13 production release as the market focused its attention on the impact of global sulfuric acid shortages during CESCO Week in Chile from April 13-17.

Fastmarkets has corrected its copper concentrates treatment and refinement charge indices, which were published incorrectly on February 27 2026 due to a backend calculation error. Fastmarkets has also corrected the indices' rationale and all related inferred indices.

Mitsui & Co has locked in long-term copper concentrate supply by acquiring 40% offtake rights to Argentina's Josemaria deposit, while Fortescue has completed its acquisition of Peru's Cañariaco project for approximately C$139 million ($101 million), marking the latest in a wave of offtake deals and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) while majors race to secure supply amid an increasingly constrained market and record-low treatment charges (TCs).

The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) state-controlled Entreprise Générale du Cobalt (EGC) announced its first copper and cobalt shipments to Swiss traders Trafigura and Mercuria on Monday February 9, with Trafigura using the Lobito Corridor to transport commodities.

Fastmarkets is inviting feedback from the industry on the counterparty weighting in the copper concentrates treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) index, as well as observed shifts in spot market activity and the impact of byproduct credits on pricing dynamics.

The capacity to smelt an additional volume of more than 800,000 tonnes per year of copper was advancing toward production readiness, Fastmarkets heard on Monday January 19.

Explore the factors behind the 27% increase in MMG copper output in 2025, including Las Bambas and Kinsevere mines' performance.