Quick overview

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Korea Zinc Co. and Canadian miner Teck Resources reached an agreement to charge more for silver and germanium in 2026 due to a spike in both metals’ prices, and to sell its zinc concentrates at a marginally higher processing fee.

Korea Zinc’s treatment charge for smelting concentrates, or semi-processed ores, increased to $85 per ton this year. This year’s $80-per-ton fee, which was the lowest benchmark level for the zinc industry in over 50 years, represents a slight improvement.

Low processing fees typically hurt them since treatment fees have historically made up around one-third of zinc smelters’ earnings,

Nevertheless, due to a remarkable increase in the price of silver, germanium, and other metals—which are also present in the concentrates it purchases from Teck and other miners—Korea Zinc recorded record profits in 2025.

Revenues from those byproducts in 2025 exceeded its zinc revenues due to a 150 percent increase in silver prices and a 75 percent increase in germanium prices.

Germanium is essential to defense systems and other cutting-edge technologies, and since China began imposing export restrictions on it and other vital minerals in 2023, prices have skyrocketed. Five percent of the world’s silver comes from Korea Zinc, which is also one of the largest producers of germanium and other essential minerals outside of China.

The largest zinc-lead mine, Teck’s Red Dog mine in Alaska, is a large provider of that metal.

Its output cannot currently be sold in China on competitive terms due to tariffs on incoming US goods.

Miners give smelters price breaks to cover the cost of recovering zinc, silver, and other metals. However, Teck and Korea Zinc agreed to lower the content threshold at which silver will become payable in this year’s agreement.