[Market Focus] Korea Zinc Shares Surge on Hopes for US Smelter Construction and Rare Earth Partnership

The stock price of Korea Zinc, which is pursuing cooperation with the United States to build a local smelter, is on the rise.

As of 1:56 p.m. on January 26, Korea Zinc was trading at 1,852,000 won, up 273,000 won (17.2%) from the previous trading day.

This upward trend is attributed to Korea Zinc Chairman Choi Yoonbum’s discussions on cooperation for smelter construction with the United States at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, held from January 19 to 23. In addition, the strategic partnership signed on January 14 with U.S. company Alta Resources Technologies for rare earth production also appears to have had an impact.

Last year’s performance is also expected to reach an all-time high. On January 19, Ahn Hoisoo, a researcher at DB Financial Investment, projected that consolidated sales for the fourth quarter would reach 4.7 trillion won, up 38% year-on-year, and operating profit would reach 306.8 billion won, up 238% from the previous year.