By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
Korea Resources Corporation (KORES), the state mining company, said Tuesday that it plans to develop a copper mine in Bolivia in Latin America together with the Bolivian government.
KORES said that it has recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Bolivian government to develop the copper mine in Corocoro in the mid-western part of the South American nation.
While the project is a 50-50 venture between KORES and the Bolivian government, the contract includes that the total amount of copper produced in the mine would be brought to South Korea.
The state-run company estimates that there are some 800,000 tons of reserves in the mine's area. KORES plans to commence development of the copper mine in 2010 after two years of exploration.
South Korea relies heavily on imports for its copper demand. In 2006, the country produced about 19,000 tons of copper, only 2 percent of its annual consumption.
``We expect the proportion of self-developed copper to increase to double the current pace,'' a KORES official said. International copper prices have soared nearly four times from $2,868 (2.63 million won) per ton in 2004 to $7,981 as of this week.
Corocoro mine has an estimated reserve of 15 million tons of copper and the KORES expects to produce about 800,000 tons of copper out of the total reserve, which is worth about $6.4 billion in current prices.
KORES, which plans to invest a total of $200 million, has already invested in mines in China and the Philippines. KORES was initially established as an integrated supporting organization for the mining industry to provide assistance for the development of private mines and to oversee the security of the overseas supply of mineral resources.
It is making efforts to ensure the stable supply of mineral resources through strategic development and support of domestic and overseas mining operations.