Colombian copper concentrate traceability

In Colombia, copper moves mostly as concentrate. Its chain combines two things that rarely go together: very few mining titles and hundreds of traders registered in the Single Registry of Mineral Traders (RUCOM) with the copper denomination.

According to Bulletin 26, "Minería en cifras", of Colombia's Mining and Energy Planning Unit (UPME), February 2026 (opens in a new tab), copper concentrates accounted for 4.4 % of Colombia's mining exports in 2025; the quantity exported grew 14.9 % compared with 2024 and its value 478.1 %. The bulletin links the higher price to demand from the energy transition and data centres. Copper is also a mineral of strategic interest under ANM Resolution 1006 of 2023 (opens in a new tab).

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025 (opens in a new tab), which cites the Copper Development Association, copper and its alloys were used in that country in construction (42 %), electrical and electronic products (23 %), transportation equipment (18 %), consumer goods (10 %) and industrial machinery (7 %).

The Mining Technical Glossary (opens in a new tab) defines a concentrate as the enriched product of mineral concentration, and a bulk concentrate as one that contains more than one metal of commercial value. In this chain, the same concentrate can carry copper and precious metals.

Titles and production are not in the same place: Antioquia and Bolívar hold more titles, but Chocó declared most of the royalty volume in 2025. Exports leave from Antioquia: according to the UPME bulletin, 99.8 % of the copper concentrates exported in 2025 came from that department, and their main destinations were Peru (51.1 %) and China (34.8 %).

The mining title holder reports production when the ore enters its inventory, in kilograms, the unit of copper royalties. The beneficiation plant that grinds and floats the ore reports the transformation when it closes the process: the ore consumed, the concentrate obtained and the loss, which includes the tailings.

The trader records the purchase when the invoice is issued, after checking the seller in the RUCOM, and the sale when it invoices. The export is reported as an international closing, with the currency, the representative market exchange rate (TRM) and the foreign buyer's details. If a flotation yields two concentrates, the technical annex of ANM Resolution 759 of 2024 (opens in a new tab) accepts several derived products in the same transformation, but rejects the record if the source quantity does not equal the derived products plus the loss (error 400062).

With hundreds of traders in the chain, what matters most is knowing where each lot comes from. MinTrace checks each copper supplier in the RUCOM, stores its certificate of origin with the purchase and its SHA-256 fingerprint, and shows the copper inventory with proven origin.

When the ore is concentrated, MinTrace calculates the loss between what was consumed and what was obtained. For exports, the international closing is recorded with the currency, the TRM and the buyer, with the same evidence that was reported to the PTM.

1. 1

   Which OTTM do you use to record your transactions in the PTM?

2. 2

   Which mines and traders did the ore in this concentrate come from, and how were they checked in the RUCOM?

3. 3

   Is the flotation reported as a transformation, including any gold or silver in the concentrate?

4. 4

   Can you share the acceptance code of the international closing?

5. 5

   From what date is recording in the PTM mandatory for your category?