en.Wedoany.com Reported - A working-level delegation from the U.S. Congress recently visited Korea Zinc's Onsan smelter to conduct an on-site assessment of the facility's competitiveness in core mineral production, advancing the bilateral "Smelter Project." The visit, initiated by the U.S. Congress and coordinated through the U.S. Embassy in South Korea, aimed to verify the Onsan smelter's environmentally friendly smelting technology, production capacity, and supply chain advantages.
Korea Zinc announced on June 26 that the delegation consisted of seven members, including aides and military officials from the U.S. House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. U.S. policy officials directly verified the core mineral production facilities at the Onsan smelter, which play a critical role in U.S. legislative and policy deliberations related to supply chains and economic security. The United States is working to reduce its reliance on certain countries for core mineral supply chains and is restructuring supply chains around allied nations.
The Onsan smelter is regarded as a key hub for global supply chain restructuring and resilience enhancement, with the capacity to mass-produce core minerals from secondary raw materials such as smelting byproducts, electronic waste, waste printed circuit boards, and discarded solar cells. It is based on this competitiveness that the U.S. government is advancing the "Smelter Project." The project involves an investment of approximately 11 trillion won ($7.33 billion) to build a smelter in Tennessee, producing 12 non-ferrous metals, including 11 core minerals and semiconductor-grade sulfuric acid. Korea Zinc aims to transplant the world-class competitiveness of the Onsan smelter into this project.
During the visit, the delegation emphasized the importance of the "Smelter Project" and called for expanded South Korea-U.S. supply chain cooperation. A recent report by the U.S. think tank Atlantic Council noted that Korea Zinc is a strategic partner for the United States in enhancing the resilience and diversification of core mineral supply chains. A Korea Zinc official stated that the "Smelter Project" is a symbol of cooperation in the supply chain sector between South Korea and the United States, and that the project would not be possible without the smelting technology competitiveness and operational know-how accumulated by the Onsan smelter over more than 50 years. The company will work with the U.S. federal government, Congress, and the Tennessee state government to advance the project.
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