ABSTRACT
South Korea is increasingly being regarded as a mineral-producing country of some consequence. Its mineral economy shows considerable diversity in product type and extraction level, and its output of anthracite, graphite, and tungsten ranks it among the world’s largest producers of each. South Korea has made good economic and industrial progress, despite large military expenditures. The mining of anthracite coal dominates South Korea’s mineral economy, providing about $300 million in 1975. South Korea’s value added for the mineral industry sector has a great deal to do with its efforts to industrialize. South Korea is self-sufficient in some minerals, has surpluses of others, and is greatly deficient in still others that are fundamentally important to industrialization. South Korea has a fair-sized indigenous mineral resource base, one that is strong in anthracite, tungsten, limestone, and a few special nonmetallics. In 1975, there were about 70,000 mining and quarrying workers, or approximately 5 percent of all the workers in manufacturing.
