Investment Increased by 41% Compared to 2023
Korea Zinc announced on July 16 that it has invested a total of approximately 150 billion KRW in environmental facilities over the past five years. In particular, as the importance of environmental management continues to grow, the company has strengthened its commitment to eco-friendly management by making record-high investments in 2023 and last year, aiming to build the most environmentally friendly smelter.
As a result, the amount of waste generated was reduced by about 14% in just one year, from approximately 760,000 tons to 650,000 tons. By improving its processes, the company has also maximized the recovery of valuable metals, thereby expanding resource circulation. According to the recently published "2024 Sustainability Management Report," Korea Zinc's annual environmental investment in 2024 reached 55.8 billion KRW, a 40.9% (16.2 billion KRW) increase from 39.6 billion KRW in 2023, marking the largest amount in the company's history.
The annual environmental investment has continued to grow, reaching 11.4 billion KRW in 2021, 12.3 billion KRW in 2022, 39.6 billion KRW in 2023, and 55.8 billion KRW in 2024. The cumulative investment over the five years since 2020 amounts to 150 billion KRW.
Looking at last year's environmental investments by category, the largest portion was allocated to water quality, with about 38.1 billion KRW (68.3%), while 11.7 billion KRW was invested in air and 6 billion KRW in chemicals. In the water quality sector, the company further enhanced rainwater reuse efficiency by introducing additional reverse osmosis (RO) technology. Using existing RO equipment, up to 1,000 tons of rainwater are filtered daily, and the company is commissioning additional RO units. Once fully operational, an additional 3,000 tons of rainwater will be filtered per day.
To prevent air pollution, Korea Zinc also upgraded its facilities to reduce fugitive dust. Specifically, low-light spray facilities, air curtains, and covers for slag storage yards were installed, and spray systems were set up in hoppers where raw materials are stored before input.
In the chemicals sector, the company invested about 25 billion KRW to build a new process solution management tank to replace the existing pond, which was used to safely store by-products generated in intermediate process stages. The previous pond had been meticulously managed with impermeable liners to prevent process solutions and sludge from leaching into the ground. However, given the potential long-term risk of soil contamination, the company made a proactive investment in the process solution management tank as a preventive measure.
Progress on the integrated environmental permit tasks is also on track. From 2023 to 2027, Korea Zinc must complete a total of 85 tasks across air, waste, and water quality sectors. As of last year, the company had completed 41 cumulative tasks, achieving a completion rate of 48%. This year, the company aims to complete 15 tasks according to its implementation plan and plans to install additional air pollution control facilities such as wet electrostatic precipitators, bag filters, and scrubbers.
In 2023, Korea Zinc generated a total of 657,016 tons of waste, a 13.7% reduction compared to 761,498 tons in 2023. Waste generation intensity also decreased significantly, from 78.5 tons per 1 billion KRW in sales in 2023 to 54.5 tons last year, representing a 30.6% reduction and greatly mitigating the environmental impact of operations.
Korea Zinc possesses technology to minimize waste generation itself by recovering additional metal resources during reprocessing through process improvements. In particular, the company maximizes the recovery of valuable metals such as zinc, lead, and copper from by-products generated during the smelting process using the TSL method. The remaining residue is converted into "clean slag," which is then reused as industrial aggregate, fundamentally preventing environmental issues.
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