Mining in North Korea - Resource Base

Resource Base

North Korea has reserves of more than 200 mineral types distributed over 80% of its territory with ten reserves recording large deposits of magnetite, tungsten ore, graphite, gold ore, and molybdenum. Among the largest resources with more than 2 million tons of estimated reserve are: Zinc which tops the list with 21.1 million tons of estimated resource; followed by non-metallic resource of 21 million tons of limestone and magnesite 6 million tons; and other mineral sources such as iron 5 million tons, anthracite 4.5 million tons, copper 2.9 million tons, barite 2.1 million tons, gold and graphite also 2 million tons each.

The Mineral Industry in the country is structured under three broad sectors namely, coal mining, ferrous and nonferrous metals mining, and processing sector and industrial minerals mining and processing sector. All these sectors are owned by the central government and it is also reported that the mineral industry supports the country’s military budget.