Producer
Zhuzhou Smelter Group Co., Ltd.
Zhuzhou Smelter Group Co., Ltd. (Zhuzhou, Hunan Province; state-owned) is one of China's largest and historically most significant indium producers. The company comprehensively recovers indium, antimony, cadmium, gold, silver, and copper as byproducts of zinc smelting operations with annual zinc capacity of 300,000 tonnes. Zhuzhou halted indium ingot production during a major plant relocation (2018-2019) when both its old and new zinc smelting facilities were simultaneously in transition, creating a notable Chinese supply disruption. The relocated facility operates in the Shuikoushan copper-lead-zinc industrial base. As part of the broader cluster of ~20 Chinese companies that collectively control 60% of global indium supply, Zhuzhou's operations benefit from proximity to Hunan Province's polymetallic ore supply and integrated Chinese zinc supply chains.
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Zinc Smelting (Primary)
55%Indium (Byproduct)
20%Antimony & Other Byproducts
15%Copper & Lead
10%
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Did you know2024
Zhuzhou Smelter Group's single smelting complex simultaneously produces materials for three completely unrelated global supply chains from the same ore feed: (1) galvanizing — refined zinc for steel hot-dip galvanizing (protecting construction steel from corrosion; the same zinc that coats guardrails and structural steel); (2) display technology — indium recovered as a byproduct for ITO sputtering targets (the transparent conductor on smartphone and TV screens); and (3) flame retardants — antimony trioxide recovered from zinc ore also containing antimony (used as a flame retardant synergist in plastics, textiles, and electronics). Three global supply chains — infrastructure corrosion protection, consumer electronics displays, and fire safety materials — share the same Hunan Province polymetallic ore smelting operation as a material origin. The zinc that protects a bridge girder, the indium in an iPhone screen, and the flame retardant in a laptop's plastic housing may all trace to the same Zhuzhou smelter flow.
Zhuzhou Smelter Group Co., Ltd. ↗Origin2023
Zhuzhou Smelter Group is located in Zhuzhou, Hunan Province — which became China's primary non-ferrous metals processing center during the First Five-Year Plan (1953-1957) when Soviet technical advisors helped build the Zhuzhou Lead Zinc Smelter as one of China's first major modern metallurgical facilities. Hunan Province's rich polymetallic ore deposits (zinc-lead-copper-tungsten) and Zhuzhou's rail hub position on the Jingguang (Beijing-Guangzhou) railway made it a logical choice for centralized smelting capacity. The Zhuzhou smelting complex grew under planned economy management through the 1950s-70s, and was reformed into a market-oriented enterprise structure after China's SOE reforms of the late 1990s. The 2018-2019 plant relocation — moving from the urban core of Zhuzhou (due to population encroachment and environmental compliance pressure) to the Shuikoushan industrial base — required simultaneously shutting down the old facility while building the new one, creating a notable indium supply disruption during the transition.
Zhuzhou Smelter Group Co., Ltd. ↗