Serbia Zijin Copper announces return of Bor copper to London Metal Exchange

The company Serbia Zijin Copper Bor has announced the return of Bor copper to the London Metal Exchange (LME).

– We have to fulfill all LME requirements regarding the supply chain, product quality and branding, but we believe that this year we will be able to return the Bor cathode to the London Metal Exchange – the Marketing Department of the Bor company announced.

It is added that the certificate of the top quality of Bor copper, issued by the Metal Exchange in London, brings a higher premium, i.e. a better selling price of the "red" metal.

The initiative to have the cathode copper produced in Bor again as a brand on the famous London Metal Exchange was made concrete by the formation of a working group that has been intensively working on the branding of the company's main product for several months, it is stated in the announcement.

The goal is for the Bor cathode to once again become synonymous with quality throughout the world, and the team of experts is responsible for achieving that goal. The Serbia Zijin Coppper working group consists of authorities in the Smelter, but also company sectors and services for marketing, planning and finance, supervision and auditing, ESG and quality control.

– The first step on the path of the Bor cathode to the London Metal Exchange is an assessment of supply chain management. All steps are dictated by the LME, so the valuation company had to engage an audit firm recognized by the London Stock Exchange as competent in the area of the copper supply chain. There are three such companies, and we have selected and already hired one of them. Since their job is to assess the situation on the ground and check the documentation, we invited them to visit our facilities. The report that will be made after the field work will go through an additional check within that house, and we expect the official confirmation, i.e. the assessment we received for supply chain management, this month – say the Marketing Department of the Serbia Zijin Copper company.

The second step involves the company's application for registration on the LME, and it consists of three things: the first is the company's letter of intent, with an attached diagram of the production process, the ISO standards the company has and other documentation.

– We are missing two things at the moment. One is a new declaration on the packaging of cathode plates, with a new text about the product and a complete specification, and the other is a new way of packaging, that is, tying the cathodes with steel strips with the Zijin Bor logo. We will update it according to LME standards and attach it to the registration request – they add from the Marketing Department.

After checking the complete documentation required for registration, which will take two to three months, the London Metal Exchange will control whether the Bor cathode meets its standards. It is practically the second stage, and then the cathodes will be sent to three test companies appointed by the LME, which will make some final product (wire or copper logs) from them. In this way, the quality of the Bor copper will be checked, and the LME will report the results of the check to the company and, if everything is in order, issue a certificate to it within a month or two, according to the announcement.

The Bor electrolytic copper, thanks to its quality, has always been appreciated in the world, and on the London Metal Exchange it was registered as a cathode of the "Bor" brand, quality "A", fineness 99.96 - 99.99%. That official confirmation of top quality was lost at the end of the last century, at the time of hyperinflation, due to alleged complaints about quality, while the main reason was the political situation in the country, i.e. the sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia at the time by the United Nations. In the period 1995-1996. RTB tried to return its cathode to the stock market, and all activities failed again for the same reason, because in 1999 the bombing of Serbia followed.

Despite losing its quality certificate, the Bor cathode was billed as "grade A" all the time. Unofficial confirmation of the top quality of the "red" metal was given by buyers, because they paid for it over the LME price just to get it.

On April 8, a ton of copper cost USD 8,760 on the London Metal Exchange.

Serbia Zijin Copper doo Bor

Serbia Zijin Copper Bor

London Metal Exchange

Bor copper

Bor cathode

return of Bor copper to LME