Zinc processing refining costs up to 210.50 US dollars / ton

According to Cancun on February 27, representatives of the International Zinc Conference stated that Canadian metal miner Teck and Korea Zinc have already

Reached an agreement on zinc processing refining fees and agreed to finalize the zinc processing fee for 2013 at US$210.50 per tonne, which is more than 10% higher than last year’s US$191.

"People are expecting processing fees to rise because of abundant market supply, and China's demand for zinc concentrate has decreased compared to last year," sources from an Asian zinc producer said.

When there is an oversupply of zinc concentrate, the miners must pay the smelter higher processing and refining costs. Last year, the agreement between Teck and Korea Zinc helped finalize the 2012 processing fee at $191. The benchmark price for the agreement is $2,000 per ton of zinc for LME.

"I heard about the agreement between Korea Zinc and Teck," said a mining company representative. It also said that the European smelters have not heard of a processing agreement