What are the verified annual silver refining capacities (in tonnes) for Korea Zinc, Industrias Peñoles, Glencore and Umicore?
Executive summary
The reporting supplied does not contain verified, line-item annual silver-refining capacity figures (tonnes) for Korea Zinc, Industrias Peñoles, Glencore or Umicore; corporate materials in the set discuss refinery roles, projects and aggregate metal throughput but stop short of publishing confirmed silver‑tonnage capacities [1] [2] [3] [4]. What follows is a company‑by‑company parsing of the available evidence, clear statements of what is and is not verifiable in these sources, and practical pointers for where definitive tonnage figures would need to be sought.
1. Korea Zinc — large new U.S. complex described in throughput, not silver tonnes
Public reporting in the dataset emphasizes Korea Zinc’s planned expansion in Clarksville and a U.S. smelter project with headline throughput numbers — roughly 1.1 million tonnes of raw materials yielding 540,000 tonnes of refined metals at full operation — but that figure is an aggregate refined‑metal output and is not broken down into an annual silver‑refining capacity in the sources provided (Metal Tech News summary and Reuters reporting of the project details) [5] [6]. Coverage around Korea Zinc’s U.S. investment is heavily framed as strategic and political — with government officials quoted in the pieces — which suggests the numbers cited are project‑level capacity projections packaged for public and political audiences rather than granular, audited silver‑tonnage declarations [5] [6]. The supplied items that discuss geopolitical spin and sensational framing additionally show contested narratives around the project (SilverTrade commentary), reinforcing that the dataset lacks a verifiable silver‑tonnage statement for Korea Zinc [7].
2. Industrias Peñoles — identified as a major silver player but no explicit refinery tonnage in these sources
The World Silver Survey and industry commentary in the set identify Industrias Peñoles as one of the world’s largest integrated precious‑metals producers and note operational recoveries and upstream production trends, including links to Fresnillo’s primary silver output, but they stop short of publishing a named annual silver‑refining capacity in tonnes for Peñoles itself [4] [8]. Analyst and investor pieces in the dataset highlight Peñoles’ downstream refining exposure and its ability to capture value across the chain, which supports the company’s importance in silver refining broadly, but those sources do not provide a verified, auditable number expressed as “X tonnes of silver refined per year” [8] [4].
3. Glencore — refinery production numbers exist but not an explicit silver‑only tonnes figure
Glencore’s corporate production reports in the dataset include a specific aggregate “total refinery production of 98,400 tonnes” for 2024, but the document and related pages present this as aggregate refinery throughput and do not parse that figure into a verified annual silver refining capacity in tonnes attributable solely to silver refining [3]. Glencore material also describes the company’s extensive smelting and refining footprint across zinc, lead and other metals, and identifies specific facilities that refine lead/ zinc and produce lead/silver bullion, indicating significant by‑product silver flows — however, no source in the set provides a direct, standalone silver‑refining tonnes figure [9] [3].
4. Umicore — “one of the world’s largest silver refineries” but no tonne metric supplied
Umicore’s own public pages in the dataset assert that its Precious Metals Refining produces high‑purity silver and describe the business as “one of the world’s largest silver refineries,” and they outline technologies and LBMA membership that corroborate scale and market role, yet these pages do not disclose an annual silver refining capacity quantified in tonnes in the material provided [1] [2]. The language signals market prominence and certification but without the specific volumetric metric the query requests [1] [2].
Conclusion — verification gap and how to close it
Across the four companies, the supplied reporting supports their major roles in silver refining and gives aggregate or project throughput figures for some corporate activities, but it does not contain verified, company‑specific annual silver‑refining capacities in tonnes for Korea Zinc, Industrias Peñoles, Glencore or Umicore — a transparent absence that must be acknowledged [5] [3] [4] [1]. To obtain rigorous, auditable tonne figures would require either company technical/engineering reports or LBMA/GDL disclosures that list silver capacity by site, national regulatory filings that record refinery permits and throughput, or direct confirmation from the companies’ precious‑metals refining divisions; none of the supplied sources provides that level of granularity [1] [3] [5] [4].