Reflecting a market where spot concentrate supply is at its tightest in many years, the headline TC for 2017 is a drop of 15% on the rate of $203 that both parties agreed for 2016 but, with escalators included, equates to a year-on-year drop of a 36%.
At the current London Metal Exchange three-month price of $2,823 per tonne, last year’s benchmark TC would have been $269 per tonne.
The deal extends the much-debated...
