Korea Mine Reclamation Corporation Strengthens Support for Critical Mineral Development

Titanium Exploration Project in Taebaek Area
Creation of Mineral Map for Key Mineral Mining District

The Korea Mine Reclamation Corporation is strengthening support for domestic and overseas resource development by Korean companies to secure stable supplies of critical minerals.

On the 12th, a representative from the Mine Reclamation Corporation stated, "The corporation is striving to establish a triple safety net consisting of development support, stockpile enhancement, and recycling according to the critical minerals supply strategy," adding, "To improve domestic self-sufficiency of critical minerals, we are actively promoting surveys and development support for critical minerals found within the country."

Due to the geological characteristics of Korea, critical minerals are found in trace amounts deep underground in mountainous areas, making it very difficult to locate ore bodies. Successful development requires the deployment of specialized personnel and development support. Accordingly, the corporation is implementing a four-stage resource evaluation project including ▲surface geological surveys ▲mineral exploration drilling ▲3D ore body modeling and reserve estimation ▲feasibility assessment. While increasing the success rate of domestic exploration, the corporation focuses on discovering promising domestic mining sites and transferring promising projects to companies. Furthermore, it provides comprehensive support to development companies from exploration through development, production, safety management, and restoration. Starting with the Taebaek region this year, the corporation plans to conduct exploration projects for titanium and gradually expand the target areas. Additionally, it is working on creating a resource map for 132 critical mineral mining sites where detailed surveys have been conducted through national subsidies to date.

To reduce the risk of private investment in exploration projects, the corporation is actively promoting "incubating exploration," which involves preemptively discovering and evaluating promising overseas projects and then transferring investment rights to the private sector. First, the corporation collects and analyzes information on promising critical mineral projects through public-private cooperation or independently, forming a pool of target projects. It then analyzes investment value through field surveys and exploration investigations. After preliminary feasibility assessments such as comprehensive analysis, the projects are introduced to the private sector through business briefings and transferred to interested companies. The corporation plans to continuously expand support for incubating exploration by discovering and operating one to two new promising projects annually.

The corporation is also introducing a "resource industry full-cycle customized technical support service" that meets the needs of private companies at each stage of the critical minerals supply chain. In the resource development stage, it supports exploration design through field surveys and systematic reserve estimation based on international standard 3D modeling, and expands professional technical consulting such as mining design and production plan adequacy review. In the processing stage, it supports inspection of critical mineral processing procedures and productivity improvement from beneficiation to smelting stages, and plans to expand and strengthen technical support including ESG (environment, social, governance) and environmental management recommendations across all stages.

A representative from the corporation said, "We will do our best to strengthen the critical minerals supply chain through revitalizing domestic and overseas resource development and provide full-cycle professional services from exploration to development, production, and restoration to achieve sustainable mining and industrial development."

A Korea Mine Reclamation Corporation official is recording the results of a geological survey on a map after investigating titanium distribution areas across Gangwon Province.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.