Volcan Compañía Minera called its first international tender of 2013 and awarded tonnages a month after the process started. Despite turbulence in the market regarding talks about concentrate oversupply in several parts of the world and rumors about a much higher benchmark figure on zinc, concentrate demand was very strong and ended up in a very sharp competitive last round definition. Concentrates offered on the tender were 150,000 wmt of zinc, 35,000 wmt of lead and 37,500 wmt of copper for deliveries during years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Terms awarded on zinc were remarkable compared to current benchmark discussions being held days before the IZA Conference. Numbers disclosed from these talks suggest a very slow market for the miners compared to results from Volcan's tender. TC levels at current prices were in the range of mid 60's to high 90's based on a Main Asian Port delivery. On the lead side, a better market for silvery concentrates was noticed with silver refining charges closer to the dollar and decreasing TCs compared to last tender. On the copper side, market has also improved for complex material, with silver payments above 90%. As mentioned above, this tender results are contradictory with current market talks for anual contracts, where the latter will be understood as for terms (TC) specially for zinc should be closer to the 200's. However, this market view may hide some unbalances certain regions in the world are currently experiencing, not only in terms of geographic availabilty, but also quality-wise. The main question is if the location and quality of concentrates included on the oversupply concept the market is talking about, are suitable for smelter needs.
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Source: VOLCAN COMPANIA MINERA via Thomson Reuters ONE
