Korea Zinc is to partner the US government in building a US-based super smelter, boosting domestic supply of critical materials including lead, zinc and copper, at a total investment cost of $7.4 billion.
Korea Zinc will jointly invest with the US departments of war and commerce to establish the 650,000m² smelting facility in Clarksville, Tennessee, the partners revealed on December 15.
The announcement coincided with Korea Zinc’s confirmation that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Nyrstar USA — including Nyrstar’s fully-permitted development sites in Tennessee, where the new smelter will be constructed.
The existing Clarksville smelter, operated by Nyrstar, is currently the sole primary zinc smelter in the US and has run for almost 50 years. Together with associated eastern and mid-Tennessee mining complexes, these assets represent a key domestic US mine-to-metals value chain, Nyrstar said.
Subject to regulatory and other approvals, the acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2026. Under the terms of the proposed agreement, the Clarksville smelter’s zinc metal production for 2026 would continue to be sold to Trafigura.
Construction of the new US smelter will begin with site preparation in 2026, followed by phased commercial operations from 2029. The facility will process around 1.1 million tonnes of raw materials annually and produce a total of 540,000 tonnes of finished products.
The total of 13 planned products include industrial metals such as zinc, lead, and copper, precious metals including gold and silver and key strategic minerals such as antimony, indium, bismuth, tellurium, cadmium, palladium, gallium, and germanium. The list also includes sulfuric acid and semiconductor-grade sulfuric acid.
Korea Zinc said the new smelter will be based on the design of its Onsan facility in Ulsan, which it said is the world’s largest single-site smelter by production capacity, using world-leading smelting technology, optimal processes, and state-of-the-art control systems.
US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said the project was a transformational deal for America.
“Our country will now produce, in volume, 13 critical and strategic minerals that are vital to aerospace and defence, semiconductors, AI, quantum computing, autos, industrials, and national security.
“With our investment in this state-of-the-art project, we are decisively strengthening our national and economic security by producing these critical minerals at scale and thus reducing dependence on foreign nations.”
Lutnick said the US would also have preferred access to an undisclosed portion of Korea Zinc’s expanded production in South Korea.
Batteries International reported last August that the US was adding lead to the nation’s list of critical minerals, along with a total of more than 50 mineral commodities including silicon and copper.
