Mercuria Energy Group has agreed to a $250 million deal to purchase copper from Shanghai Jayson New Energy Materials Group in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The agreement covers three years of supply from operations in Congo, including the newly started Kinga Kila project. Mercuria will pay Jayson subsidiaries Hongkong Excellen Mining Investment Co. and Singapore Excellen Pte Ltd. up to $250 million for copper supply.
An investment vehicle belonging to Robin Zeng, the billionaire chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., owns nearly 30% of Hongkong Excellen, which holds the Congolese copper ventures. Jayson, whose main business includes manufacturing precursor materials for lithium-ion batteries, controls the rest of the company. Traders have been piling into prepayment deals in Congo, which has emerged as the growth engine for global copper supply.
Trafigura Group paid Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. $200 million in advance for copper anodes from the Kamoa-Kakula complex. Mercuria also paid $100 million to guarantee access to three years of copper output from Eurasian Resources Group. Jayson's trio of projects in Congo produced about 56,000 tons of copper in the first half of the year.
The latest began exporting metal in May. CATL holds a 25% interest in China's CMOC Group Ltd., which leads copper production in Congo with two giant operations. The battery maker also owns an additional stake in CMOC's Kisanfu mine, which is the world's top source of battery material cobalt.
The two metals are often found together in Congo.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing