Assaying Korea's Mineral Resources

The Republic of Korea has considerable mineral resources. There are rich deposits of gold, graphite and tungsten, as well as of coal; and there is enough lead, copper, bismuth and manganese to merit attention. There seems to be a reasonable prospect of developing mineral exports within a few years to the value of $40 million or $50 million a year. But the full extent of the country's mineral wealth has yet to be measured. The UN Korean Reconstruction Agency (UNKRA) has, therefore, built a mineral assay laboratory with the most modern equipment at Taejon, to test ore samples to assess the commercial value of the mines now in existence and make a proper evaluation of the new finds.
One of the tasks of the laboratory is to help Korean mining firms find ways to improve their present processes for separating valuable minerals from worthless rock. In this work, the staff is helped by a ""Heavy Media Separator"", the first one in Korea, a modern device for separating heavier from lighter elements found in coarse-crushed ore. Frans van der Hoeven, UNKRA mining engineer from the Netherlands, and Korean expert Kim Yong Chul operate the machine.