Antofagasta agrees zero copper processing charges for 2026 with Chinese smelter

Chilean miner Antofagasta has agreed treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) for 2026 of $0 per ton and 0 cents per pound with a Chinese smelter, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

The deal, reached after protracted negotiations, compares to charges of $21.25 a ton and 2.125 cents per lb. for 2025 agreed last December and matches a mid-year deal between Antofagasta and some Chinese smelters at zero levels.

Miners traditionally pay TC/RCs to smelters to turn copper concentrate into refined metal. But a dire shortage of mine supply in recent months has sent spot processing fees into negative territory, meaning smelters would effectively have to pay more for the privilege of processing material.

Talks between Antofagasta and smelters in China, the world’s biggest copper consumer, have been “tough and challenging” this year, one of the sources said.

The sources declined to be identified or to name the smelter that agreed the deal because the negotiations were private.

Jiangxi Copper, one of China’s biggest copper smelters and often the first to strike an annual TC/RC deal, had been due to meet with Antofagasta on Friday evening, three separate sources familiar with the matter said earlier.

The two sides failed to reach agreement on the sidelines of the Asia Copper Week gathering in Shanghai last month, when an official from the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association pushed back against “free and negative processing of copper concentrate.”

Antofagasta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(By Tom Daly, Pratima Desai, Amy Lv and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Louise Heavens)