"Chrome concentrate" is one phrase covering three different products, and enquiries that start in the wrong lane lose weeks before anyone notices. A ferrochrome smelter asking for our 48–52% flotation concentrate is in the wrong lane; so is a pigment plant offered lumpy ore. In our Waziristan marketing, the first qualifying question is never tonnage or price — it is which of the three lanes the buyer's plant actually runs in, because lane decides the spec sheet, the sizing, and the pricing reference all at once. This guide separates the lanes, building on the grade chemistry in our chrome ore grades buyer guide.
What is the difference between chrome concentrate and chrome ore?
Chrome ore is run-of-mine or lumpy chromite that can charge a furnace or kiln directly. Concentrate is beneficiated material — gravity-separated, washed, or froth-floated to 44–52% Cr₂O₃ — sold to chemical, tanning, pigment, refractory-castable, and specialty foundry buyers. The exception is UG2-style smelter concentrate, a separate lane with its own index.
| Form | Cr₂O₃ | Who buys it | Pricing reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metallurgical lumpy | 42–48% | Ferrochrome smelters (direct charge) | Fastmarkets lumpy index, basis 40% CIF China |
| UG2-style smelter concentrate | ~40–42% | Smelters, via pelletising or DC-arc | Fastmarkets UG2 index, basis 42% CIF China |
| Washed / flotation concentrate | 44–52% | Chemical, tanning, castables, specialty foundry | Negotiated at a premium over the indices, by tier |
| Refractory lump | 38–42% | Brick plants, furnace linings | Negotiated on the chemistry window |
The index mechanics behind the two smelter rows — basis grades, per-unit arithmetic, the UG2 discount — are decoded in our chromite price-per-ton guide; the refractory row now has its own standalone product page.
Match the Concentrate Tier to the Buyer
Bare Syndicate's Waziristan plant produces three commercial tiers. Concentrate 44–46% Cr₂O₃ (Cr:Fe ≥ 2:1, washed and screened) serves the chemical industry and pigments — the lane where sodium dichromate and chromic-acid producers such as LANXESS, Turkey's Soda Sanayii, and Chinese chemical plants qualify feed against the chemical-grade benchmark of Cr₂O₃ ≥ 44% with SiO₂ at or below 1%. Concentrate 46–48% (SiO₂ < 4%) goes to tanning salts and specialty chemicals. Concentrate 48–52%, a flotation product milled below 75 µm, feeds premium refractory castables and specialty foundry work — the foundry lane specifying AFS grain fineness 40–60, whose selection logic is walked through in our foundry chrome sand guide.
Why don't concentrates feed ferrochrome smelters?
Because the furnace lane is already served by two purpose-built forms: metallurgical lumpy that charges directly, and UG2-style concentrate that smelters pelletise, sinter, or feed to DC-arc furnaces at scale. Chemical- and specialty-grade concentrates are tuned to a different value function — silica limits, controlled alkalinity, particle sizing — that a smelter neither needs nor pays for, which is why "concentrates feed the smelter" is the single most common mis-framing in chrome enquiries. The customs line reflects the split downstream too: ores and concentrates ship under HS 2610.00, while the refractory castables made from concentrate fall under HS 6815/6903 as manufactured goods.
Check Sizing and Moisture Before the Assay Even Matters
Concentrate contracts live and die on the physical clauses. Sizing defines the product — a 48–52% flotation concentrate below 75 µm is not interchangeable with a washed 0–10 mm stream at the same grade. Moisture is paid twice when it overshoots: once as freight on water, once as assay dilution on the dry-basis settlement, so the moisture cap and re-test point belong in the contract, not in goodwill. And treat quoted recovery rates with caution — flotation recovery moves with head grade, which is why we quote guarantee structures on delivered specification rather than plant recovery claims. Our concentrates ship in jumbo bags under SGS-verified assays covering Cr₂O₃, SiO₂, Cr:Fe, sizing, and moisture on every lot.
Where Chrome-Concentrate Buying Goes Wrong
- Asking for "the chrome concentrate price." Chemical, foundry, and refractory-castable lanes each have distinct price discovery — a single number exists for none of them.
- Sending a chemical-lane enquiry down the smelter lane. The spec sheets look similar at a glance; the buyers, sizing, and premiums are unrelated.
- Comparing a concentrate offer to the UG2 index print. The index prices smelter concentrate at basis 42%; chemical and specialty tiers trade at negotiated premiums for chemistry the index does not measure.
- Ignoring SiO₂. The chemical-grade benchmark holds silica at or below 1% — a cargo passing on Cr₂O₃ alone can still fail qualification at the plant.
- Believing "battery-grade chrome concentrate." Chromium is not a commercial battery-cathode material; the phrase is a sales invention.
- Mixing the HS codes. Concentrate is HS 2610.00; castables are HS 6815/6903. Quoting the wrong one snarls duty treatment at destination.
Next step: Review the three concentrate tiers on our chrome concentrates page and the lumpy grades on chrome ore, or request a delivered-cost indication naming your lane, tier, sizing, and destination. The Minerals & Mining division lists the full portfolio.
Additional Market Context
The working references: ICDA quarterly statistics for the chromium-market baseline; the Fastmarkets chrome ore indices for the smelter-lane price direction that specialty premiums are negotiated against; the American Foundry Society's grain-fineness method for the foundry lane; USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 for the production picture; and the chromium-chemicals producers themselves — LANXESS and Soda Sanayii publish the qualification standards the chemical lane is judged by. No price levels are quoted here by design — the indices publish weekly and the specialty premiums are negotiated per contract.
Last reviewed: 2026-08-11. Product-lane specifications per the Bare Syndicate catalogue and the chemical-grade benchmarks cited above; this guide quotes no prices — request an indication against the current week's index for live numbers.
