Producer
Korea Zinc
Korea Zinc Co., Ltd. (Seoul; KRX: 010130; ~$9B revenue) is the world's largest single-site zinc, lead, and silver smelter operator and the world's largest non-Chinese indium refiner. Indium is recovered as a byproduct at its Onsan smelter in Ulsan, South Korea — the only facility in Korea with an indium processing line. Korea Zinc produces ~150 tonnes of indium annually at 99.999% purity (vacuum-packed 5-kg bars), meeting roughly 11% of global demand outside China. About 90% of Korea Zinc's indium output is exported to the US, Japan, and Taiwan — making it the primary indium supplier for US and Taiwanese display/semiconductor manufacturers seeking non-Chinese supply. The Onsan smelter also produces gallium and antimony; Korea Zinc has invested heavily to diversify into critical minerals as a strategic counterweight to Chinese dominance.
5
Inputs supplied
2
Goods downstream
2
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
5 inputs Korea Zinc supplies
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mineral
Indium Metal (ITO for Displays + Semiconductors) →
mineral
Electrolytic Zinc (SHG/SSHG) →
mineral
Indium Metal (ITO for Displays + Semiconductors) →
mineral
Zinc metal (galvanizing grade) →
mineral
Zinc metal (galvanizing grade) →
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something Korea Zinc makes, pick one to see the full supply chain.
Where they make it
2 facilities
Korea Zinc Onsan Smelter →
KRUlsan · refinery
World's largest single-site zinc smelter (~1M MT/yr zinc output). Also refines lead, silver, gold, indium, bismuth, and gallium at the same site. Korea Zinc processes zinc concentrates from Australia, Peru, and Canada. When this facility has supply or production issues, galvanized steel prices move globally within weeks.
Korea Zinc Onsan Smelter (Ulsan) →
KRUlsan (Onsan National Industrial Complex) · smelter
Korea Zinc's Onsan smelter in the Onsan National Industrial Complex, Ulsan — the world's largest single-site producer of zinc, lead, and silver, and the only Korean facility with an indium processing line. Produces ~150 tonnes of indium/year at 99.999% purity. Approximately 90% of output exported to US, Japan, and Taiwan. Korea Zinc is investing in gallium production at the same Ulsan complex to diversify critical minerals output. Source: Seoul Economic Daily; Korea Herald; Korea Zinc annual reports.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map, where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Zinc Smelting (World #1 — Onsan, Ulsan)
55%Lead, Precious Metals & Indium (Byproducts)
30%Battery Materials & New Energy (Expansion)
15%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains, chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2023
Korea Zinc is publicly known as the world's largest zinc smelter — a South Korean company processing zinc concentrates from Australia and Canada into galvanizing-grade zinc and battery-grade zinc powder. It is not widely known that Korea Zinc is simultaneously the world's largest producer of indium metal — approximately 25% of global indium supply comes from Korea Zinc's Onsan smelter as a byproduct of zinc smelting. Indium occurs as a trace element (~1-100 ppm) in zinc sulfide ores; Korea Zinc's massive zinc throughput makes indium recovery economically viable and makes Korea Zinc the dominant global indium source. Indium metal is the critical feedstock for Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) — the transparent conductive coating on the inner surface of every LCD and OLED display panel; every smartphone touchscreen, tablet, laptop, and TV that uses touch or display technology contains ITO produced from indium smelted as a byproduct of zinc production. The world's largest zinc smelter is, by consequence of ore chemistry, also a foundational supplier to smartphone and display manufacturing. A galvanizing and battery company is embedded in the consumer electronics supply chain through geological accident.
U.S. Geological Survey ↗Note2026
In April 2026, Korea Zinc acquired Nyrstar's Clarksville, Tennessee smelter and mine operations, giving a South Korean company ownership of the only primary zinc smelter in the United States — a strategic shift in who controls the sole domestic source of primary zinc for US battery manufacturers.
ClarksvilleNow ↗Incident2024
In 2024, Korean private equity firm MBK Partners launched a hostile takeover campaign for Korea Zinc — operator of the Onsan smelter (Ulsan, South Korea), the world's largest single-site zinc smelter at 630,000 tonnes/year and approximately 20% of global refined zinc supply. The battle pitted MBK Partners against Korea Zinc's management team and founding Young Poong Corp family shareholders in one of the most contentious corporate governance proxy fights in Korean business history. The Korean Financial Services Commission intervened; courts issued emergency injunctions. The outcome: a stalemate that left operational control with management. The world's largest zinc smelting operation — which provides SHG zinc to alkaline battery manufacturers globally — spent much of 2024 under contested ownership rather than optimizing production.
Reuters ↗Origin2023
Korea Zinc was founded in 1974 as a direct product of South Korean President Park Chung-hee's Heavy and Chemical Industry (HCI) drive — the same concentrated industrial policy that created POSCO (steel, 1968), Hyundai Heavy Industries (shipbuilding, 1972), and provided the foundation for Samsung Electronics' electronics manufacturing. The HCI policy directed state capital and protected market access toward heavy industry to transform South Korea from a labor-cost manufacturer into a capital-intensive industrial power within one generation. Korea Zinc's Onsan smelter (Ulsan) was built in the 1970s specifically to eliminate South Korea's dependence on imported refined zinc for its galvanizing and battery industries. By 2023, the company built with 1970s government industrial policy had become the world's single largest zinc smelter — processing zinc concentrates from Australia, Canada, and South America at a scale that makes it a structural node in global zinc, indium, and battery materials supply chains.
Korea Zinc Co., Ltd. ↗