NQ boss gets Korean post
Local star new zinc giant chief
THE man who helped turn around the fortunes of Townsville’s Sun Metals zinc refinery, Yun Choi, has been promoted to president and CEO of the refinery’s parent company, Korea Zinc.
Korea Zinc is one of the biggest zinc producers in the world with operations in Korea, Peru, Bolivia, Vietnam and Australia.
Mr Choi left Townsville this week to travel back to Korea where his appointment is to be announced today.
The Townsville refinery’s chief operations officer, Ki Won Park, has taken over as the plant’s new chief executive officer.
Mr Choi was appointed chief executive of the Townsville refinery in 2013 after the operation recorded a series of financial losses.
Mr Choi said there had been a lot of concern about the refinery at that time but its future as one of the world’s most competitive zinc refining operations was now secure after a series of changes both in technology and organisational arrangements.
“We didn’t exactly have a plan forward which worried us a lot. Since then, our team has made amazing strides,” Mr Choi said.
The refinery last year launched a $300 million expansion to introduce new processing technology to boost production, while the company developed a $200 million solar farm in 2017 to meet one third of its electricity needs.
In 2016 it invested about $50 million to start its own transport company, Townsville Logistics, which now employs 100 people.
The refinery employs 300 people and up to 400 con- struction jobs will be created at the peak of the expansion project later this year.
The expansion is due to be completed in the second half of 2020.
Mr Choi said he was “very, very grateful” for the opportunity to lead the team in Townsville.
“Townsville has been great for me, both professionally and personally. I will really miss the place,” Mr Choi said.
“For those people in Townsville, please know there is a friend in Korea who as CEO of Korea Zinc believes in Townsville and sees our refinery in Townsville as critical to Korea Zinc.”
Mr Choi said the expansion would allow Sun Metals to be a completely waste-free zinc refinery, maximising the recovery of zinc from the metals concentrates and selling what remained as byproducts.