By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter

South Korea will spend a total of 300 billion won ($257.1 million) over the next nine years to secure and refine rare metals used in various modern gadgets.

Under the plan, projects for the development of 40 core technologies concerning the metals will be supported until 2018 to hike the nation's self-sufficiency ratio in refinement from the current 12 percent to 80 percent, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Friday.

Metals and technologies subject to the plan will be selected within several months, and a support center will be also built in Incheon next year, it added.

Following petroleum, rare metals will be the ``new momentum to lead the global industries in this new century,'' Minister of Knowledge Economy Choi Kyung-hwan said at a forum for CEOs in the industry, where the plan's outline was unveiled.

The metals, including titanium, lithium, white gold, magnesium, tungsten, nickel and other rare earth elements, are utilized in various high-tech industrial products such as light-emitting diodes (LED) and secondary fuel cells.

Such materials are unequally distributed across the world, with five countries owning nearly 80 percent of their reserves. As their prices are fluctuating on international markets, competition between countries is becoming fiercer to secure more rare metals, according to the Ministry.

Demand for the materials is surging in Korea as well amid growing interest in high technology products such as LEDs and hybrid vehicles, but growth is lagging in the local metallic industries.

With most supplies dependent on imports, most refiners of rare metals are small- and medium-sized firms suffering from a lack of overall competency.

To solve the problem, the number of dedicated rare metal alloy manufacturers will also grow from 25 to 100 by 2018 by attracting more investment from the private sector. Industrial clusters for such businesses will be also established across the country, the ministry said in a statement.

On the same day, POSCO signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on magnesium smelting with Gangwon Province. The eastern coastal region has 40 percent of the nation's magnesium reserves.

According to the MOU, POSCO will build a refining facility there with an annual capacity of 10,000 tons by 2011, aiming to expanding it to 100,000 tons after 2014.

The project will save Korea some 35 billion won each year, because the new plant will enable the country to produce magnesium lumps, currently imported from China, on its home turf, the steel giant said.

hckim@koreatimes.co.kr