South Korea seeks to slash dependence on China by reopening massive tungsten mine

South Korea is the world’s largest consumer of tungsten per capita and currently relies on China for 95 per cent of its imports

Incoming President Yoon Suk-yeol pledged in January to reduce mineral dependence on ‘a certain country’. The US, EU and Japan are diversifying supplies too

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Sangdong, in South Korea’s Gangwon province, is one of at least 30 critical mineral mines or processing plants globally that have been launched or reopened outside China over the last four years. Photo: Reuters

Reutersin Sangdong

Published: 10:02am, 9 May 2022

Blue tungsten winking from the walls of abandoned mine shafts, in a town that’s seen better days, could be a catalyst for South Korea’s bid to break China’s dominance of critical minerals and stake its claim to the raw materials of the future.

The mine in Sangdong, 180km southeast of Seoul, is being brought back from the dead to extract the rare metal that’s found fresh value in the digital age in technologies ranging from phones and chips to electric vehicles and missiles.

“Why reopen it now after 30 years? Because it means sovereignty over natural resources,” said Lee Dong-seob, vice-president of mine owner Almonty Korea Tungsten Corp. “Resources have become weapons and strategic assets.”

Tungsten is illuminated with a mineral light in Sangdong mine in Gangwon province, South Korea. Photo: Reuters

Sangdong is one of at least 30 critical mineral mines or processing plants globally that have been launched or reopened outside China over the last four years, according to a Reuters review of projects announced by governments and companies. These include projects developing lithium in Australia, rare earths in the United States and tungsten in Britain.

The scale of the plans illustrates the pressure felt by countries across the world to secure supplies of critical minerals regarded as essential for the green energy transition, from lithium in EV batteries to magnesium in laptops and neodymium found in wind turbines.

Overall demand for such rare minerals is expected to increase fourfold by 2040, the International Energy Agency said last year. For those used in electric vehicles and battery storage, demand is projected to grow 30-fold, it added.

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