Korea Zinc sees $3b metals recovery in US smelter revamp

Korea Zinc Chair Choi Yun-beom (Korea Zinc)

Korea Zinc Chair Choi Yun-beom said the company can recover roughly $3 billion worth of residual metals from a former US smelter it aims to redevelop into a large-scale critical minerals complex, in a move that could strengthen US supply chains amid rising competition with China.

In an interview with Bloomberg on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Choi said the existing site comes with a large volume of waste materials, estimated at about 600,000 metric tons, including zinc, copper, lead, silver and germanium. At current market prices, he said the remaining materials are worth more than $3 billion, and processing them would take about six to seven years.

Choi expressed confidence that Korea Zinc is capable of extracting the metals on-site and doing so profitably.

In December, Korea Zinc announced it will invest $7.4 billion to build a critical minerals processing facility in Clarksville, Tennessee, on the site of a former smelter owned by Nyrstar. The investment is backed by the US government and other strategic investors, including JPMorgan.

He also said Korea Zinc received assurances from the Trump administration that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not detain Korean workers at the site. Concerns grew over tougher immigration enforcement after more than 300 Korean workers were arrested in a sweeping immigration raid at a Hyundai Motor battery plant in Georgia last year.

“We had a conversation with the US and we received very, very robust assurances that they will never do that,” said Choi. “It will not happen.”

Choi also rejected claims that the investment was aimed at bolstering the CEO’s grip on the company, rather than advancing its business interests amid an ongoing ownership battle with an alliance of Young Poong Group and private equity firm MBK Partner.

“The argument that this deal was done solely because of me wanting the US (investment), being a white knight, or some other ridiculous interpretation of this deal is, I think, quite outlandish,” he said.