Zhuzhou Smelter Group: Copper, Lead, Zinc Concentrates, and Gold Production All Hit Record Highs in 2024; Net Profit in Q1 This Year Up Over 74% YoY

SMM May 23 News: Recently, Zhuzhou Smelter Group Co., Ltd. released its performance announcements for Q1 2025 and the full year of 2024. In Q1 2025, the company achieved a total revenue of 4.803 billion yuan, up 8.5% YoY. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the publicly listed firm reached 277 million yuan, up 74.07% YoY.

Regarding the reasons for the YoY increase in Q1 performance, Zhuzhou Smelter Group stated that precious metals, represented by gold, fluctuated at highs and continuously hit new highs in Q1 this year, bringing a profit-boosting effect to the company. Currently, the global precious metals market is influenced by expectations of interest rate cuts in developed economies, geopolitical risks, and growth in industrial demand, leading to a sustained upward trend in the prices of gold, silver, and other precious metals. The company significantly improved its unit output value and profit contribution by extracting precious metals through mining and refining externally purchased raw materials.

According to public information, Zhuzhou Smelter Group is mainly engaged in the smelting, processing, and sales of zinc, lead, and their alloys, while also involved in comprehensive recovery of rare and precious metals, R&D of new materials, and other fields. The company's main smelting products include zinc ingots, hot-dip galvanizing alloys, foundry zinc alloys, lead ingots, lead-based alloys, gold, silver, etc. By-products include sulphuric acid, copper matte, antimony white powder, etc. Mineral products include copper concentrates and gold-sulfur concentrates, as well as minor products such as bismuth ingots, tellurium ingots, cadmium ingots, and indium ingots.

On the evening of April 10, Zhuzhou Smelter Group released its 2024 annual report. According to the announcement, in 2024, the company achieved a total operating revenue of approximately 19.759 billion yuan, up 1.82% YoY. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the publicly listed firm, excluding non-recurring gains and losses, reached approximately 730 million yuan, up 29.71% YoY. The net cash flow generated from operating activities was 1.107 billion yuan, up 60.32% YoY, indicating high operational quality.

Zhuzhou Smelter Group stated that the company's operating performance demonstrated strong resilience. Despite the continued sluggishness of processing fees in the market, the smelting segment achieved the annual profit target, while the mining segment achieved increased profits and revenue. Production volumes of copper, lead, and zinc concentrates, gold, and other products all reached new highs, with significant growth in total annual profit and net profit.

According to the annual report data, in 2024, Zhuzhou Smelter Group produced approximately 640,000 mt of zinc and zinc alloys and approximately 640,000 mt of sulphuric acid, and completed the production of approximately 100,000 mt of lead and lead alloys, remaining in the first tier of domestic lead and zinc production. Meanwhile, the company achieved a gold production of 3,710.30 kg, up 8.05% YoY, and gold sales of 4,074.96 kg, up 36.42% YoY.

Taking the lead and zinc industry as an example, reviewing the market situation over the past year, the supply of lead and zinc concentrates was tight in 2024, with processing fees for lead and zinc concentrates falling repeatedly throughout the year, all dropping below historical lows. According to SMM historical price data, domestic zinc concentrate TCs plummeted to 1,450 yuan/mt (metal content) on August 2, 2024, while imported zinc concentrate TCs fell to -$40/dmt on August 16, 2024, both hitting record lows. In 2024, due to ore shortages and narrowing profit margins, domestic smelters even called for "joint production cuts."

Regarding lead concentrate TCs, they also continued to decline amid tight lead concentrate supply in the market. On July 26, 2024, the average domestic lead concentrate TC fell to 550 yuan/mt (metal content), hitting a record low. The lowest imported lead concentrate TC reached -$50/dmt on the same day, also marking a historic low for negative TCs. Even in July 2024, due to insufficient lead concentrate supply, scrap batteries temporarily became a common raw material for secondary lead smelters and some primary lead smelters. The lead paste extracted from dismantled scrap batteries by primary lead smelters became a major source of raw material supplementation.

Against this backdrop, Zhuzhou Smelter Group still achieved its annual profit targets on the smelting side, increased profits and revenue on the mining side, and set new production records for copper, lead, and zinc concentrates, as well as gold. Its risk-resistance capabilities are beyond doubt. As a byproduct of lead-zinc ore smelting, gold performed exceptionally well in 2024, with precious metal prices surging strongly throughout the year. International gold and silver prices repeatedly hit record highs. Driven by stronger-than-expected US economic performance and the market's "Trump trade," the US dollar index surged after Trump's election victory, while the RMB depreciated sharply against the US dollar amid potential tariff pressures. Overall, gold and silver prices underperformed overseas markets during the year, with SHFE gold rising approximately 30% and SHFE silver increasing around 32%.

However, after entering 2025, the tight supply of zinc concentrates has significantly eased. As of May 16, domestic zinc concentrate TCs have rebounded to 3,300-3,700 yuan/mt (metal content), with an average price of 3,500 yuan/mt (metal content). This represents a 2,050 yuan/mt (metal content) increase from the previous historic low of 1,450 yuan/mt (metal content), marking a 141.38% surge.

》Click to view SMM spot quotes for zinc products

In fact, as early as October 2024, with the rebound in SMM's seven-port inventory and a slight increase in domestic imported ore circulation, domestic zinc concentrate supply received some supplementation. Moreover, zinc prices remained high in October, driving up mine profits. Coupled with gradual improvements in raw material inventories at some domestic smelters, the market sentiment was strongly bullish. Based on these factors, some smelters negotiated with mines to raise domestic TCs, leading to a slight rebound in TCs across multiple regions in China in October. After that, domestic smelters continued to operate at low capacity utilization rates, and the days of raw material inventories at smelters continued to recover. In December, domestic zinc concentrate TCs increased slightly on a MoM basis, reversing the previous trend of consecutive declines.

In January 2025, the pressure on smelters' raw materials continued to ease. Coupled with the sustained high zinc prices in Q4 2024, smelters were able to negotiate with mines to increase zinc concentrate TCs, leading to a significant increase in domestic zinc concentrate TCs in January. While domestic TCs were rising, smelters showed low purchase willingness for imported zinc ore TCs, which also prompted a noticeable rebound in imported zinc ore TCs.

In February, domestic zinc concentrate TCs continued to rise, mainly due to the Chinese New Year holiday, during which some enterprises conducted maintenance and took holidays, leading to a decrease in overall production. This boosted the continuous rebound in both domestic and imported TCs. Additionally, smelters continued to refuse to budge on prices to achieve profitability. The days of raw material inventories at domestic smelters remained at around 28 days, indicating a relatively high level of raw material stocking. Coupled with the intermittent opening of the import window, the port arrivals of zinc concentrates increased, and port inventories once surged to over 400,000 mt, replenishing smelters' raw material inventories and maintaining them at a high level overall. Under the combined influence of these factors, the supply of zinc concentrates in February was loose, and TCs continued to rise.

Entering March, driven by the supplement of imported ore and the expectation of the gradual resumption of production at domestic mines, domestic smelters continued to raise their TCs quotes. As of March 28, domestic zinc concentrate TCs increased to 3,400 yuan/mt (metal content).

In the past two months, the increase in domestic zinc concentrate TCs has significantly slowed down. SMM learned that although some smelters will conduct maintenance in May and smelters continue to refuse to budge on prices, considering profit factors, miners have a strong willingness to keep zinc concentrate TCs flat in May. Under continuous negotiations between the two parties, the increase in zinc concentrate TCs in May compared to April is limited. Looking ahead, despite the significant increase in overseas zinc mine output this year, there is no obvious increase in domestic zinc mine output except for Huoshaoyun. Moreover, with improved profits, smelters are highly motivated to produce, and new smelters put into operation in Q2 in China are also gradually ramping up production. With both supply and demand increasing, there may be limited room for future increases in domestic zinc concentrate TCs, and it is necessary to continuously monitor the subsequent inflow of imported zinc ore.

In addition, the announcement also mentioned that the company has a lead-zinc-copper mining and beneficiation capacity of 860,000 mt, with relatively high lead-zinc geological grades, making it a well-endowed mine in China with a certain advantageous position. From the perspective of resource value, lead-zinc mines are rich in gold and silver, with high value per ton of ore. According to the data from the annual reserve report of the Shuikoushan Lead-Zinc Mine mining right, the Kangjiawan mining area under the Shuikoushan Lead-Zinc Mine mining right has a reserved resource volume of 11.807 million mt and a reserve volume of 4.953 million mt, placing its overall mine value among the top in the country. The company has a production capacity of 860,000 mt for lead-zinc-copper mining and beneficiation, 680,000 mt for zinc products, and 100,000 mt for lead products. It also comprehensively recovers various rare and precious metals such as copper, gold, silver, bismuth, indium, cadmium, and tellurium. Relying on the copper-lead-zinc industrial base, it has significant industrial synergy advantages.

In 2025, the company aims to produce 643,000 mt of zinc and zinc alloy products, 103,500 mt of lead and lead alloy products, 860,000 mt of raw ore from mines, 3.8 mt of gold, and 295 mt of silver.

In terms of mines, the company holds the mining rights for the Shuikoushan Lead-Zinc Mine and the Baifang Copper Mine, operating three mines (the Kangjiawan Mine and the Lead-Zinc Mine both fall under the Shuikoushan Lead-Zinc Mine mining rights) and one beneficiation plant, with an annual raw ore mining and beneficiation capacity of 860,000 mt. In zinc smelting, it has a zinc smelting capacity of 300,000 mt, a deep-processing capacity of 380,000 mt for zinc-based alloys, and a total zinc product capacity of 680,000 mt, ranking among the top in the country. In lead smelting, it operates two lead and precious metal smelters, with a production capacity of 100,000 mt for lead smelting, 4,500 kg of gold, and 470 mt of silver.