Korea Zinc to build a $7.4B critical-minerals smelter in Tennessee with $1.4B from the US Department of War

Korea Zinc/Project Crucible (Clarksville smelter)

Korea Zinc announced a partnership with the US Departments of War and Commerce to build a smelter at Nyrstar's Clarksville, Tennessee site, the first US zinc smelter since the 1970s. The plant would make 13 products, 11 of them US-designated critical minerals, with phased operations from 2029.

• Capex $6.6B; $7.4B including working capital and financing.
• Department of War $1.4B; Commerce $210M from the CHIPS Act.
• 540,000 t/yr of finished products from 1.1 Mt/yr of feed.
• About 750 US jobs; Korea Zinc also agreed to buy Nyrstar's US operations.