MOSES LAKE — Tae Won Jun has been named the new chair of the board of directors at REC Silicon, about six weeks after the previous chair was elected. The company received two $6.5 million loans from a South Korean company that owns a substantial share of REC stock.

The loans were part of REC’s agreement with the Hanwa Group, according to a company press release. 

“REC Silicon does not have sufficient available cash to meet debt service and other anticipated operating cash flow requirements for this year without the continued support of the major shareholder, Hanwha, or additional sources of capital. Therefore, it will soon require additional financing beyond this loan, either from Hanwha or from other sources of capital, none of which have yet been finalized or guaranteed,” the press release said. 

REC Silicon officials have not responded to questions from the Columbia Basin Herald. The company’s Moses Lake facility closed in January, and REC Silicon officials haven’t commented on its future except for a statement from Kurt Levens, REC president and chief executive officer, in the company’s 2024 annual report released in June. 

“While our primary focus is on silicon gas production at Butte, we are also preserving the optionality of restarting the Moses Lake silane facility when market demand, particularly from silicon anode manufacturers or other emerging applications, reaches a level that justifies resuming production. Although this may take time to materialize, we are proactively taking the necessary steps now to ensure a seamless and successful restart when the opportunity arises,” Levens said.    

The company’s board was also reduced from five members to three.  

One unnamed shareholder objected to the board election, according to minutes from the meeting. 

“A shareholder present at the meeting submitted a formal objection to the handling of the board election vote,” according to the minutes. “The objection noted that while the election of new board members was listed in the agenda, the names of the proposed candidates from Hanwha were only disclosed publicly on 5 August 2025 - after the deadline for registration and advance voting had passed. The shareholder argued that this timing deprived shareholders relying on advance procedures of a meaningful opportunity to evaluate the proposal and vote accordingly." 

REC’s largest shareholder has made an offer to buy back all the company’s existing stock, and as of July, the board had accepted the offer. 

“On 11 July, (Anchor AS) announced that it had received acceptances which, together with shares held by (the Hanwa Group), represented 43.94% of the issued and outstanding shares in (REC Silicon),” according to a REC Silicon press release. “On 14 July, (Anchor AS) announced that the voluntary offer had been completed and that a mandatory offer will be launched within the deadline set out in the Norwegian Securities Act.” 

Anchor AS is a subsidiary of the Hanwa Group. Under Norwegian law, the offer was initially voluntary but became mandatory after the amount of stock involved crossed the ownership threshold.