CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Under a PILOT agreement approved this week, Crucible Metals will get a 20-year 57% Montgomery County property tax abatement in exchange for bringing over 400 jobs paying at least $83,000 per year to the community.
As announced in December 2025, Crucible Metals LLC, a U.S. company created by Korea Zinc, plans to build a $6.6 billion metal refinery on the site of the existing zinc plant in Montgomery County. In April, Korea Zinc completed its purchase of the zinc plant from Nyrstar.
Crucible Metals consultant Mina Hall, who attended Wednesday’s Clarksville-Montgomery County Industrial Development Board meeting, said the company is “really excited.”
“We did an extensive site search across the country. We evaluated over 18 sites over multiple states, and this was one of three final estate locations,” Hall said. “We ended up choosing Tennessee and Clarksville specifically because of the strength of your workforce, because of your infrastructure capabilities related to logistics opportunities, and related to the incentives and the support we’ve received from the government at all levels – the state as well as the county.”
The Crucible Metals plant is the largest announced project in Tennessee state history.
“This is a great community and the company is thrilled to be here,” Hall said.
How Crucible PILOT will work
Crucible Zinc is expected to retain all 300 of the zinc plant’s existing employees and hire an additional 420, Josh Ward, executive director of the IDB, said at the meeting.
The 420 new jobs are expected to have salaries ranging from $83,000 to $196,000 annually. Under the PILOT (payment in-lieu of taxes) agreement, Crucible must maintain average wages within 80% of the established target, increasing to 90% after 2036, Ward said. They also must hit 100% of the $6 billion appraisable investment.
In exchange, Crucible will get a 57% abatement on Montgomery County property taxes for its first 20 years. Each year, Crucible will make a PILOT payment that’s equivalent to the property taxes currently being paid, so there will be no loss of existing county tax revenue during construction, Ward said. However, once construction is complete in 2029, the county will see a muti-million-dollar increase in tax revenue.
1,200-acre purchase at end of Zinc Plant Road
Crucible has purchased the entire 1,200-acre zinc plant property, Ward told Clarksville Now after the meeting.
The zinc plant is outside the city limits, at the west end of Zinc Plant Road. The total 1,200-acre property is bounded by the Cumberland River on the west and extends roughly from Hilltop Road on the northeast almost to Hogue Road on the south. Much of the land on the north and south is zoned agricultural. The zinc plant land at the center is zoned industrial.
Crucible will construct the new facilities on the vacant industrial property. The current zinc plant facilities will remain in operation until Crucible decides to replace them, Ward said.
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Former owner Nyrstar paid approximately $252,000 per year in county property taxes. “During the construction period, Crucible will make payments equal to that amount, ensuring there is no loss of revenue to Montgomery County,” Ward said
Once construction is complete in 2029 and the project reaches $6 billion in appraisable capital investment, the first annual PILOT payment to Montgomery County is estimated to exceed $5 million. When the PILOT fully matures in 20 years, Crucible will pay an estimated $31 million per year in property taxes, Ward said.
The IDB, which has the final approval authority, unanimously approved the PILOT agreement on Wednesday.
What Crucible Metals will create, when it will open
When the Clarksville refinery reaches full operation, it is expected to produce large amounts of base metals each year, including about 300,000 tons of zinc, 200,000 tons of lead, and more than 35,000 tons of copper. The facility will also refine precious metals, including roughly 1,040 tons of silver annually and about 5 tons of gold each year, according to previous reports.
The United States currently relies heavily on imports for many critical minerals used in industries such as electronics, batteries, artificial intelligence and defense manufacturing. The Clarksville refinery is meant to help “strengthen supply chains” by processing these metals in the United States.
Site preparation and engineering is under way, with construction planned to begin in early 2027. The project is expected to take about 33 months to build. Initial operations are planned to begin in 2029, starting with zinc processing before expanding to lead and copper later that year. The refinery is expected to reach full production in early 2030.
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