BEIJING: The China Smelters Purchase Team (CSPT), a group of the top copper smelters, has appointed Yang Xiangbin from Jinchuan Group International Resources as its leader for 2022, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.

The CSPT’s appointment of Yang will last for a year, said the sources. He is taking over the post from China Copper’s Feng Mingrui who was the group’s leader last year.

Yang is currently the deputy general manager at the sales and marketing department of Jinchuan Group.

The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak with the media.

The CSPT last month set the 2022 first-quarter floor treatment and refining charges for copper concentrate at $70 per tonne and 7 cents per pound, maintaining the same levels from Q4 last year.

Miners pay treatment and refining charges to smelters to process copper concentrate into refined metal, offsetting the cost of the ore. The charges fall when supply tightens and rise when more concentrate is available.