Newssummary: South Korea to Increase Investment in Zinc, Aluminum, and Nickel Sectors

SHANGHAI, Mar. 24 (SMM) – Major companies in South Korea are increasing investment in the country’s non-ferrous metals industry as demand improves, the nation’s media reported. 

Korea Zinc Inc., a general non-ferrous metal smelting company in South Korea, plans to complete the construction of its No. 2 nonferrous metals industrial park in mid-2015.

The industrial park, located in Onsan-eup, Ulju-gun Ulsan, is designed to have an annual capacity of 130,000 tonnes, including 27,000 tonnes of zinc, 4,300 tonnes of copper, 829 tonnes of silver, and 3 tonnes of gold.   

The company, now having an annual capacity of 560,000 tonnes of zinc, 300,000 tonnes of lead, 7 tonnes of gold, and 2,000 tonnes of silver, also purchased a tract of land in Ulsan earlier this year for new capacity expansion. 

Standard Firm Co., Ltd., the country’s aluminum billet producer, is also expected to finish the building of No. 2 Branch this month. 

The plant, in Gangwon Munmak industrial park, includes two 100-tonne furnaces, three 60-tonne furnaces, and three 50-tonne homogeneous. The commissioning of the plan will bring the company’s total annual capacity up to 304,000 tonnes. Products of the new plant will be mainly exported to overseas markets, including Israel, the United States and Pakistan. 

This February, the company signed a letter of intent to supply procurement with India’s Lakshmi Metal Exchange, to provide 10 billion-Won aluminum billet annually. The company is also discussing with Israel and Pakistan for similar supply contract. 

Another company, Société du Nickel de Nouvelle Calédonie et Corée (SNNC) put online its No. 2 furnace, with annual capacity of 54,000 tonnes, earlier this month. Following commissioning of new furnace, SNNC now has an annual capacity of 84,000 tonnes.

SNNC is a joint venture between Pohang Iron & Steel Corporation (POSCO), South Korea's largest steelmaker, and South Pacific Mining Company (Société Minière du Sud Pacifique - SMSP), New Caledonia's largest nickel exporter.

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