‘Largest investment in state history’: Lee announces $6.6B deal with South Korea metals company

Gov. Bill Lee this week announced the state’s largest economic investment: $6.6 billion joint venture between South Korea-based Korea Zinc and the federal government for a minerals in Middle Tennessee. Pictured: Tennessee State Capitol. (Photo: John Partipilo)

A South Korea metals company will invest $6.6 billion to build a minerals refinery on the site of a shuttered mine in Smith County, marking the largest single economic investment in Tennessee history, Gov. Bill Lee announced this week. 

Korea Zinc will partner with the federal government in a joint venture that federal officials say aligns with the Trump administration’s goals to limit reliance on China for minerals critical to U.S. semiconductor, artificial intelligence, aerospace and defense industries. 

The public-private partnership gives the federal government a 40% stake in the company’s Tennessee operations, where some 540,000 tons of materials will be produced annually, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. 

The investment is expected to create 320 jobs in Smith County and 420 jobs in Montgomery County, the planned site of the company’s new U.S. headquarters.

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“These hundreds of new jobs will drive economic prosperity across the region for generations to come,” Lee said in a news release.

State leaders called the investment a major economic milestone for Tennessee, but did not disclose whether the deal came with the promise of taxpayer-funded incentives. 

“Details about grant assistance can’t be shared until contracts are fully executed,” a spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development wrote Wednesday in an emailed response to questions about potential incentives.

The Commerce Department has awarded the project $210 million in direct funding, the agency announced. The federal government will gain a 40% stake in the U.S. operations. As part of the deal, the federal government will also own 5% of the global Korea Zinc operations.

In a post on X, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the deal a  “big win for America.”

The announcement comes amid uncertainty over the future of BlueOval City, Ford Motor Company’s electric truck campus lured to west Tennessee with $1 billion in taxpayer incentives for thousands of promised jobs.

Announced in 2021 as the then-largest investment in state history, the campus’ opening has since been delayed multiple times. Ford announced this week it had scrapped plans for electric pickup manufacturing in favor of gas-powered vehicles.