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 five per cent 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 United States goods.