• You declared ‘Troika Drive’ as a roadmap for a second leap in 2022, what does it mean?
• A. ‘Troika Drive’, which we take as a new growth engine, is a green future business roadmap focusing on renewable energy and green hydrogen energy, resource circulation through recycling, and the secondary battery material industry. Korea Zinc’s aspiration is to set 2022 as the first year of leaping based on an eco-friendly new growth engine, and Korea Zinc, a global non-ferrous metal smelting company, also wants to take the first place in the fields of ‘renewable energy and green hydrogen’, ‘waste recycling’, and ‘secondary battery material industry’.
• Q. If so, can you tell us about Korea Zinc’s selection of a new eco-friendly growth engine and its background?
• A. Korea Zinc has been thinking deeply about selecting a new growth engine for the past three years. Korea Zinc has been thinking and thinking about what kind of business will fit the changes of the times that Korea Zinc can do better than anyone while keeping the existing business areas as the basics. Through this, Korea Zinc has concluded that the eco-friendly new growth engine is a business that Korea Zinc can do best and adapts to the changes of the times. As a company that uses tons of electricity, thinking about how to use electricity in a cheaper and eco-friendly way to increase competitiveness has led to the construction of solar and wind power plants in Australia and the construction of state-of-the-art LNG power plants in Onsan. Efforts to maximize resource recycling and reduce raw material costs at all levels have resulted in 13 types of furnace operation, such as 7 Fumers and 2 DRSs, and the world’s most eco-friendly zinc smelting method (hematite). In addition, the establishment of KZAM through lavish investment in electrolytic technology and entry to the battery material industry are leading to expansion of influence to the manufacture of nickel sulfide and precursors. This eco-friendly new growth business is what Korea Zinc can do better than anyone else, and it will be a growth engine that meets the changes of the times. Korea Zinc has maintained an unrivaled technology through R&D investments, and has been recognized as a global leader in the industry by reducing costs through economies of scale and maintaining an investment environment through aggressive M&A. We will review our concerns and research to maximize recycling and reduce raw materials in all fields for the past 30 years, reaffirm that will, and present a vision for a new eco-friendly business that will lead our growth. Troika Drive will be a roadmap and a start for Korea Zinc’s second leap forward.
• Q. How should we think about the reason why you emphasized the importance of green hydrogen business as the first step in ‘Troika Drive’?
• A. As mentioned in this year’s New Year’s speech, Troika Drive’s first growth engine is ‘Renewable energy and Green hydrogen business’. It is an essential business for zero-carbon management, and the green hydrogen production and hydrogen truck utilization business model of Ark Energy, a subsidiary established in Australia, has already been verified for innovative excellence by the Australian government, and is fully supported by each ministry. Korea Zinc will lead the production of green hydrogen through the development of renewable energy-based hydrogen infrastructure and lead the way in contributing to demand creation. In addition, Korea Zinc acquired Australia’s largest renewable energy company, Epuron, in December 2021, further spurring the expansion of its green hydrogen business.
• Q. It can also be seen as a preemptive effort of Korea Zinc in accordance with the global trend toward eco-friendly management. If so, it would be an inseparable story from the resource recycling business, which was put forward as the second growth engine. I would like you to briefly introduce the resource recycling business.
• A. Troika Drive‘s second growth engine is the resource recycling business. It is an important future project for the global environment, and we have the confidence to take the first place in this business field as we have accumulated unrivaled technology and know-how in the resource recycling field that extracts resources from waste. First of all, our subsidiary, Zinc Oxide Corporation (ZOC), produces and supplies zinc oxide (HZO), including valuable metals, as a raw material for Korea Zinc from wastes such as steel making dust generated by domestic steel makers that are about 400,000 tons annually. At the same time, we have established a resource circulation system that leads from steelmaking to smelting and from smelting to steel making by producing Direct Reduce Iron (DRI), a raw material for the steel process, and supplying it as a raw material to steel makers. It is contributing to the protection of the global environment by reducing waste that is subject to landfill and reducing the demand for mining. If Korea Zinc stands out in the resource-circulating economy, eventually Korea Zinc will also have greater opportunities for growth. This is because it is possible to stably secure raw materials for Korea Zinc’s production items and produce them at a low cost.
• Q. You expressed great expectations for the secondary battery material business.
• A. The third growth engine is the secondary battery material business. As the electric vehicle market is growing explosively, the electric vehicle battery market is also growing significantly. To keep pace with this, Korea Zinc boldly invested in the secondary battery material business based on the electrolytic technology Korea Zinc has been honing over the past 50 years, and established KZAM, a battery material company, in March 2020. Korea Zinc is also trying to manufacture nickel sulfate and precursors based on wet refining technology, etc., and is constantly trying to expand influences in the secondary battery material industry. In addition, Korea Zinc is paying attention to the environmental pollution problem caused by waste batteries that arise as the electric vehicle battery market grows, and making efforts to respond. As the demand for electric vehicles and IT is rapidly increasing, the recycling business of the waste is also a business that is expected to grow rapidly, and it is also important to protect the global environment. If we make good use of the technologies and know-how we have accumulated, we can expect high growth and profits in the resource recycling market.
• Is there anything you would like to emphasize to the employees in 2022?
• The future businesses that will become Korea Zinc’s new growth engines are big and difficult dreams, but if Korea Zinc, its affiliates, and all its employees work together, I expect to be able to achieve that dream. Korea Zinc believes that ‘safety’ is our top priority in this process. I ask that all of our employees and partners always remember the safety rules and the three safety commandments and practice them. Since life is the most precious value incomparable to anything, Korea Zinc is doing its best to provide comprehensive safety precautions and system. I would like to say one last thing to all members, please do not slow down and do not forget that safety should always be the number one priority at any moment.

Korea Zinc dreams of taking a second leap with Troika Drive in 2022 and hopes that you will keep an eye on Korea Zinc’s footsteps to see what future market it will pioneer and how it will develop.