Korea Zinc posted its highest-ever results for the first half of this year, extending its streak of quarterly profits to 106. On a consolidation basis, second-quarter revenue was 6.373 trillion won and operating profit was 587.1 billion won, up 66.6% and 126.8%, respectively, from a year earlier. Higher zinc prices, expanded sales of copper and critical minerals, and a recovery in affiliates' metal sales and production contributed to the gains.
Marking its 52nd anniversary this year, Korea Zinc started with zinc and lead smelting and has built a "multimetal integrated smelting" system that also recovers gold, silver, copper, and rare metals. In the process, founder Choi Ki-ho and honorary chairmen Choi Chang-geol, Choi Chang-yeong, and Choi Chang-geun laid the foundation for the current business structure by taking charge of the company's establishment and management, smelting technology, and raw material procurement, respectively.
Founder Choi Ki-ho and Honorary Chairman Choi Chang-geol founded Korea Zinc in the 1970s, when Korea's nonferrous metals industry base was weak, and began the smelting business. Choi Chang-geol oversaw early management, establishing organizational and financial systems and expanding production facilities to grow the company's scale.
As the business grew, smelting technology and raw material sourcing were strengthened together. Honorary Chairman Choi Chang-yeong, a metallurgical engineering major, joined management in 1976 and led process improvements and technology development. He advanced the development and commercialization of TSL (Top Submerged Lance) technology to additionally recover valuable metals from smelting residues, increasing both the types of recoverable metals and productivity. For these achievements, he was selected in 2006 as one of the "60 engineers who raised Korea" and in 2010 as one of the "Korea's top 100 engineers" by The National Academy of Engineering of Korea.
Honorary Chairman Choi Chang-geun expanded the supply chain around overseas mines and resource development sites to fit the characteristics of Korea's smelting industry, which must import most raw materials. As smelting technology advanced and raw material sources broadened, Korea Zinc developed an integrated smelting system that recovers multiple valuable metals in a single process, not just zinc and lead.
This business structure is expanding into critical minerals under Chairman Choi Yoon-beom. According to Korea Zinc, the recovery rate of valuable metals from the integrated process reaches up to 96.5%, and the recovery rate of critical minerals has risen from the 60% range to the 80% range. The company plans to increase copper production capacity to 150,000 tons per year by 2028 and push for production of gallium and germanium.
New businesses are also moving in parallel. In 2022, Choi presented the "Troika Drive," with renewable energy and green hydrogen, battery materials, and recycling and resource circulation as its three pillars. Since then, the company has expanded into Australia's renewable energy business, battery materials such as nickel sulfate and precursors, and resource-circulation businesses that utilize electronic waste and scrap.
The integrated smelting business is also expanding into the United States. Korea Zinc is preparing to build an integrated smelter in Tennessee through "Project Crucible," to produce zinc, lead, copper, and critical minerals such as gallium, germanium, indium, and antimony. Based on the polymetal smelting technology accumulated over half a century at the Onsan smelter, the plan aims to increase domestic production of critical minerals while expanding the business scope into the U.S. supply chain.