LME WEEK — Antofagasta nets its highest ever copper treatment charges in auction, sources say

Concentrate shortages have been building since 2023 Deficit also due to massive rise in China's smelting capacity Concentrate supply contract talks for 2027 set to begin By Pratima Desai and Tom Daly LONDON, Oct 16 (Reuters) — Chile's Antofagasta was paid more than $300 a metric ton to have its copper concentrate turned into metal in recent tenders, two sources familiar with the matter said, underscoring acute supply shortages as contract talks for 2027 begin. One of the sources said the numbers represent a record result for Antofagasta, while the second person and a third market source said Canada's Teck Resources sold material from its Highland Valley mine for treatment charges in the minus $370s a few weeks ago. Shortages have been building due to a series of disruptions starting with First Quantum's Cobre Panama mine, which was shut in late 2023, and most recently a landslide at Codelco's El Teniente mine in Chile that left two workers dead. Miners historically paid treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) to process their concentrate into refined copper, offset against the cost of the copper contained in the ore. But at the start of last year treatment charges turned negative,