Teck charges Korea Zinc more for silver and germanium

Canadian miner Teck Resources agreed with Korea Zinc Co. to sell its zinc concentrates at a slightly higher processing fee in 2026, while charging more on silver and germanium after a surge in prices for both metals.

The treatment charge that Korea Zinc will receive for smelting semi-processed ores known as concentrates rose to $85 a ton this year, according to three people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified due to the commercial sensitivity of the matter.

That’s a small rebound from this year’s $80-a-ton fee, which was the lowest benchmark level for the zinc industry in more than 50 years. Low processing fees tend to hit zinc smelters hard, as treatment charges have historically accounted for about a third of their revenues.

Still, Korea Zinc registered record profits in 2025, thanks to a stellar rally in prices for silver and other minor metals, which are also contained in the concentrates it buys from Teck and other miners. Revenues from those byproducts surpassed its zinc revenues in 2025, as silver prices rallied 150% over the course of the year.

Germanium plays a crucial role in defense systems and other advanced technologies, and prices have surged since China placed export controls on it and other critical minerals starting in 2023. It rallied 75% last year.

Korea Zinc is one of the biggest producers of critical minerals outside China, and it plans to start germanium production at a new plant from 2028. It also supplies 5% of the world’s silver, and many of its byproducts originate from Teck’s Red Dog project in Alaska, which is the world’s biggest zinc-lead mine. Red Dog’s output can’t currently be sold on competitive terms in China due to tariffs on incoming US goods.

Miners offer smelters concessions on pricing to cover the cost of recovering zinc, silver and other metals, but in this year’s deal Teck and Korea Zinc agreed to lower the content threshold at which silver will become payable, one of the people said.

That will boost Teck’s share of revenues from the silver it produces, and for the first time the Canadian miner will also charge for the germanium contained in its concentrates, the person said.

Teck declined to comment. Korea Zinc did not respond to requests for comment.

(By Julian Luk)