Copper — grade a cathode and clean concentrate

What we produce

Quintel sells copper in two forms. The first is electrowon cathode, produced on site at Mbengwe and Lubumba, cut to standard 1 m by 1 m sheets, bundled to approximately 2.5 tonnes and strapped for containerised or break-bulk shipment. Both brands are registered on the London Metal Exchange as Grade A, meaning the metal has been independently sampled, assayed and approved against BS EN 1978:1998 Cu-CATH-1.

The second is copper concentrate from the Mbengwe sulphide concentrator, grading 27–29% copper. Its commercial distinction is what it does not contain: arsenic below 0.05%, negligible fluorine, bismuth and antimony, and a low mercury content. Smelters operating under tight environmental permits pay a lower treatment charge for concentrate that lets them blend down dirtier feed, and that discount is the concentrate’s principal source of value.

Product specifications

Production record

Where it goes and why

Around 62% of Quintel cathode is sold on annual contracts to wire rod and tube manufacturers in Europe, Turkey and the Gulf, with the balance sold into Asian markets on shorter tenors. Concentrate is sold on annual and multi-year contracts to custom smelters in Asia and, since 2023, to a European smelter under a five-year agreement that carries a premium tied to arsenic content.

Demand for copper is no longer principally a construction story. Grid transmission and distribution, electric vehicles, heat pumps and data centre power infrastructure are the marginal drivers, and each of them is growing at rates that construction never did. An electric vehicle uses roughly three times the copper of a comparable combustion vehicle; an offshore wind installation uses several tonnes per megawatt.

What matters for a producer is not the demand forecast — those are freely available and broadly agreed — but supply. Copper grades in the major producing districts have fallen for three decades, the average time from discovery to first production now exceeds fifteen years, and the pipeline of approved new projects is thin. That combination, not any single demand scenario, is why the group’s capital allocation favours copper.

Commercial terms

Standard terms for direct offtake. Variations are negotiable through the Dubai marketing office.

• Pricing: LME cash settlement average over an agreed quotational period, plus a negotiated physical premium reflecting destination and form.
• Incoterms: cathode typically FCA mine gate, FOB Walvis Bay or CIF destination. Concentrate typically FOB or CIF with standard treatment and refining charge deductions.
• Payment: irrevocable letter of credit at sight from a first-class bank, or open account for counterparties with an established credit history.
• Assay and weight: determined at load port by a mutually appointed independent inspector, with umpire arbitration on the standard exchange-of-assays basis.
• Traceability: every lot is accompanied by a certificate of origin identifying the producing operation, and cathode and concentrate can be traced to the month of production.