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Lutnick hails Korea Zinc’s US refinery plan as 'big win'

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By Yonhap
  • Published KST
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick makes remarks as U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable with high-tech business executives in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington D.C. on Dec. 10. EPA-Yonhap

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick makes remarks as U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable with high-tech business executives in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington D.C. on Dec. 10. EPA-Yonhap

WASHINGTON — U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Monday welcomed Korea Zinc Co.'s plan to work with the U.S. government to jointly invest in building a critical metals refinery in Tennessee as a "big win for America."

Lutnick made the remarks in a social media post, hours after the company said that it had signed an agreement to forge a strategic partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Commerce for a joint investment to build a 650,000-square-meter refinery in Clarksville under the "U.S. Smelter" project.

"Today, we announced a major investment with Korea Zinc to build a state-of-the-art critical minerals smelter and processing facility in Tennessee that will produce 540,000 tons per year of essential materials right here in America," the secretary said on X.

"These minerals power the technologies that matter most for our future: defense systems, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, autos, data centers, and advanced manufacturing," he added.

Lutnick said that gallium, germanium, indium, antimony, copper, silver, gold and zinc will all be produced on American soil, supporting everything from fighter jets and satellites to chip factories and the electric grid.

"And it doesn't stop there: Starting in 2026, the United States will have priority access to Korea Zinc's expanded global production, putting American security and manufacturing FIRST," he said.

"This is exactly how we win: build here, secure our supply chains, create great jobs, and keep America the world's industrial and technological leader. Congratulations to President Trump on delivering another massive win for the United States!"

Korea Zinc and the U.S. government are reportedly seeking to jointly invest around 10 trillion won ($6.8 billion) to build the refinery.