Korea Zinc (010130.KS) posted record quarterly earnings in the first quarter of this year, as an expanded product portfolio, enhanced production capacity, and investments in new businesses drove results despite heightened external uncertainty from the Middle East conflict and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The company said Tuesday that first-quarter operating profit on a consolidated basis surged 175.2% from a year earlier to 746.1 billion won ($550 million). Revenue rose 58.4% over the same period to 6.07 trillion won ($4.5 billion). Both revenue and operating profit marked the highest quarterly figures on record. Korea Zinc had also posted record earnings in the fourth quarter of last year.
The first-quarter operating margin came in at 12.3%, up 5.2 percentage points year-on-year. Compared with the fourth quarter of last year, the operating margin also improved by more than 3 percentage points. Korea Zinc extended its streak of quarterly operating profits to 105 consecutive quarters through the first quarter of this year.
Although the Middle East war that broke out in February led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and a surge in raw material prices including oil, heightening domestic and external uncertainty, Korea Zinc delivered strong results by diversifying its product portfolio and responding flexibly to supply and demand conditions, the company said.
Profitability improved as the company capitalized on expanded sales of precious metals such as gold and silver driven by safe-haven demand and favorable pricing, alongside strong demand for critical minerals including antimony, an essential material for advanced and defense industries. Increased copper sales and the growth of Pedalpoint, which handles the resource recycling business, also contributed to the strong performance.
Korea Zinc held a regular board meeting the same day and approved a first-quarter dividend for 2026. The dividend per share is 5,000 won, with a record date of the 21st of this month. The total dividend amounts to 102 billion won, with payment scheduled for June 5.
Under its value-up plan, Korea Zinc set a total shareholder return target of 40% for the 2024-2026 period and exceeded the target in both 2024 and 2025. Last year, the company canceled all 2.04 million treasury shares it had purchased to block the hostile takeover bid by MBK Partners and Young Poong (000670.KS).
At the board meeting, Hwang Duk-nam was reappointed as chair of the board. Hwang is regarded as a legal expert with approximately 40 years of experience, having served as a judge at the Seoul High Court and as a legal affairs secretary in the Presidential Office's Civil Affairs Office. She has served as a member of the Gender Discrimination Improvement Committee, the National Labor Relations Commission, and the National Human Rights Commission, and currently serves as a board member of the Korean Committee for UNICEF, actively engaged in public interest activities. She also brings experience running the board of a major financial institution, having served as an outside director and board chair at Hana Bank.
Korea Zinc plans to further advance its "Troika Drive" (renewable energy and green hydrogen, secondary battery materials, and resource recycling businesses) while concentrating company-wide resources on the success of "Project Crucible," a total $7.4 billion (about 11 trillion won) investment pursued jointly with the U.S. government and others. Project Crucible involves building an integrated smelter in Tennessee that will produce 13 non-ferrous metals, including 11 critical minerals, as well as semiconductor-grade sulfuric acid.
Project Crucible was recently designated under the U.S. federal government's "FAST-41" fast-track program and is undergoing expedited permitting procedures. On the 28th of last month, Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Stuart McWhorter and others visited the Onsan smelter to review the equipment and technology to be applied and deployed at the U.S. integrated smelter.
"Korea Zinc will continue to do its utmost to maintain stable growth and solid profitability even amid unexpected changes in the domestic and external environment," a Korea Zinc official said.
