Training

StratMined Academy

Practitioner training on the commercial side of African mining: how concentrates are priced, how offtake contracts work, how exports should be valued. Live online, at your site, or self-paced. In English and French.

How we deliver

Three ways to learn

Every course exists in all three formats. Open masterclasses run on fixed dates; in-house sessions are built around your own contracts and assays.

Open · Live online

Masterclass

Two live sessions of three hours on Microsoft Teams, six to fifteen participants, workbook and certificate included.

$450 per seat
Early bird $390 · 3+ seats $350 each
In-house · Online or on site

Workshop for your team

One or two days for up to twenty people, with the case study built on your own contracts, assay certificates or export files. Delivered in Lubumbashi, Lusaka, Douala, Kinshasa, Johannesburg or online.

from $6,500 per day
On site from $9,500 + travel at cost
Self-paced · From Q1 2027

Online course

Recorded modules, the pricing workbook, a graded quiz and a certificate. Learn at your own pace, keep the tools.

$199 per course
Register interest to be notified at launch
Courses

Available now

Built from fifteen years of mining strategy, commodity-trading and risk work, applied to real African lots.

C01 · Copper · Pricing & Valuation

Pricing Copper Concentrates: From Assay to Invoice

Read an assay certificate and a concentrate contract, compute payable metals, apply TC/RC, penalties, freight and financing, and reach the Net Smelter Return per dry tonne. Understand the annual benchmark, quotational periods and how traders hedge. Leave with a working pricer.

6 modules · 6 hours 3 graded exercises + quiz Next open cohort: 3–4 Dec 2026 (EN) · 21–22 Jan 2027 (FR)

What you will learn

For mines and juniors, traders, bank trade-finance desks, government valuation and customs staff, analysts

  • Payable copper, gold and silver: payable percentages, minimum deductions, which rule binds
  • Treatment and refining charges, the annual benchmark vs spot, penalty schedules
  • Quotational periods, provisional and final invoices, hedging and calendar spreads
  • Incoterms, freight, payment terms and financing cost in the final price
  • Red flags in offers made to African producers; what governments should check

Included

Workbook, exercises, certificate

  • StratMined Copper Concentrate Pricer (Excel): single-lot NSR, trader back-to-back margin, sensitivities
  • Three worked cases: a DRC sulphide lot, a Zambian gold-bearing lot CIF smelter, a trader case with contango
  • Glossary of 60 terms (EN/FR) and reading list
  • Certificate of completion on passing the quiz
$450USD Book a seat · open cohort from $6,500 Request in-house session

Want the syllabus first? Email us and we will send it within a day.

C02 · Contracts · Negotiation & Hedging

Offtake and Smelter Contracts: Reading, Negotiating, Hedging

The contract behind the price. Contract types and how they are concluded, quality and quantity tolerances, pricing clauses and QP options, benchmark versus spot terms, price participation, hedging with LME futures, Incoterms 2020, letters of credit, and what happens when the cargo is off-spec.

6 modules · 6 hours Sequel to C01 First open cohort: Feb 2027

What you will learn

For commercial managers, legal and finance teams, traders, lenders

  • Anatomy of a concentrate sale contract and of an offtake agreement; the clauses that cost money
  • Negotiating TC/RC, payables and penalties from the seller's side
  • Price risk: QP choice, provisional pricing, hedging, margin calls
  • Payment risk: L/Cs, documentary conditions, title and risk transfer
  • Disputes: off-spec cargo, short delivery, remedies and umpire assays

Included

Templates, case files, certificate

  • Annotated model contract with negotiation notes
  • Term-sheet checklist for offtake negotiations
  • Dispute case file worked in class
  • Certificate of completion
$450USD Register interest · Feb 2027 from $6,500 Request in-house session

Bundle C01 + C02 open seats: $790 (save $110). Ask for the bundle.

In development · register interest

Next in the catalogue

  • C03 Pricing cobalt hydroxide and intermediates
  • C04 Mineral export valuation for governments: reference prices, royalty base, transfer-pricing risk
  • C05 Due diligence on African mining assets
  • C06 Responsible sourcing and traceability in practice (OECD, EU Battery Regulation, Digital Product Passport)
  • C07 Commodity trade finance for African producers, traders and banks
  • C08 Mining market intelligence: sources, methods, products
Tell us which one you need
Your trainer

Héra Mpondo

Founder of StratMined Advisory. Fifteen years in mining strategy and commodities, formerly Corporate Strategy at De Beers and Risk Management at Anglo American. Executive MBA and Diploma of Advanced Studies in Commodity Trading, University of Geneva. Advises buyers, producers and governments on copper, cobalt and critical-mineral value chains across the DRC, Zambia and Cameroon. Teaches in English and French.

Questions
Do I need a trading background?

No. C01 starts from the assay certificate and builds up. Basic Excel is enough.

Can you train in French or on site?

Yes. Open cohorts alternate English and French. In-house sessions run in either language, online or at your site in Africa or Europe.

Can you use our own contracts and assays?

That is the point of the in-house format. Send redacted documents two weeks ahead and the final module is built on them.

How do we pay?

Open seats by card through Stripe. In-house sessions by invoice, half on booking, half after delivery. Group and student rates on request.

Is there a certificate?

Yes, a StratMined Academy certificate of completion is issued on passing the end-of-course quiz.