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Republic of Korea

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The sources listed are the ones this profile uses, with the years their figures describe. The access date is today.

Republic of Korea refined 2.1% (USGS) of the world's copper in 2025 (estimated).

2.1%

of the world's copper refining in 2025 (estimated), according to USGS

#8 in copper refiningANNUAL 2025

  • Materials with a production share

    2

    with a mining or refining share on record

  • Exports of the ten materials

    $3.1bn

    2024; most of it copper; 62 partner countries

  • Grid emissions intensity

    418gCO2e/kWh

    2025

  • Imports of the ten materials

    $11bn

    2024; most of it copper; 84 partner countries

OverviewSupply chainMoneySustainabilityRisks & policySourcesHistory & talk

Overview

What it produces

Share of world output, per material and stage. Each bar is one source's figure; where two sources report the same stage, both are shown and never blended. A full-width bar would be 100%.

  • Copper· Refine

    • 2.1%#8 in copper refiningUSGS, 2025 (estimated) · 610 kt

      Rank 8 of the 17 countries with a figure in this USGS table.

  • Graphite· Refine

    • 0.2%#5 in graphite refiningIEA, 2025 · 5 kt

      Rank 5 of the 6 countries with a figure in this IEA table.

  • Graphite· Mine

    • 0%#15 in graphite miningUSGS, 2025 (estimated) · 500 t

      Rank 15 of the 18 countries with a figure in this USGS table.

Key facts

Country code
KOR
GDP
$1.87tn (2025)
Mineral rents, share of GDP
0% (2021)
Ores and metals, share of goods exports
2.6% (2025)
Mining area, all commodities
39 km² (2019; rank 82 of 144)
Named in the sources as
Rep. of Korea; Korea, Republic of; Korea

Money →Sustainability →Risks & policy →

Map

Basemap: Natural Earth (public domain)
  • Republic of Korea

Sites are those in the open sources. A site missing here is missing from the sources, not from the world.

Country in context

Copper: Refinery production, 2025 (estimated). All rows come from the same table.

Country in context: Copper, Refinery production, 2025
Countrythousand metric tonsShare of worldSource
Korea, Republic ofThis country6102.1 %
ChinaLargest producer in the table14 00048.3 %
World totalWorld total as the source gives it29 000–

Supply chain

Every figure the sources give for this country, its trade partners per material, and where its sites are.

Production, refining and reserves

The latest year of each series. Share is of the series total: the larger of the source world total and the sum of its rows. Rank counts only the countries that have a number in that series.

Production, refining and reserves: Republic of Korea
SeriesAmountShare of worldSource
Copper: Mine production2025 (estimated) · USGS MCS 2026Nil (—) in source–
Copper: Refinery production2025 (estimated) · USGS MCS 2026 · rank 8 of 17610 kt2.1 %
Copper: Reserves2025 · USGS MCS 2026Nil (—) in source–
Graphite: Mine production2025 (estimated) · USGS MCS 2026 · rank 15 of 18500 t0.0 %
Graphite: Refined battery-grade supply (IEA)2025 · IEA GCMO 2026 · rank 5 of 65 kt0.2 %
Graphite: Reserves2025 · USGS MCS 2026 · rank 13 of 151 800 000 t0.6 %

Mines and plants listed without coordinates · 13

The USGS Minerals Yearbook names these operations in Republic of Korea with company, place and annual capacity, but gives no coordinates, so they are not on the map. Capacity is not production. Each row is from the chapter year shown.

Material and productKindCompany, as listedPlace, as listedAnnual capacityYearSource
AntimonyAntimony, metalPlantKorea Zinc Co. Ltd.Onsan refinery, Ulsannot given2021
CopperCopper, metal, primaryPlantKorea Zinc Co. Ltd.Onsan refinery, Ulsan25 thousand metric tons per year2021
CopperCopper, metal, primaryPlantLS-Nikko Copper Inc. (LS Holdings, 50.1%, and Japan Korea Joint Smelting Co. Ltd., 49.9%)Plant at Onsan, Ulsan680 thousand metric tons per year2021
CopperCopper, metal, primaryPlantYoung Poong Corp.Seokpo refinery, Gyeongbuk Province5 thousand metric tons per year2021
GalliumGalliumNot specifiedKorea Zinc Co. Ltd.Onsan refinery, Ulsan10 000 kilograms per year2021
GraphiteGraphite > MineMinePrivate ownerDaewoon Mine, Chungbuk Provincenot given2021
GraphiteGraphite > MineMineTaesamjin Corp.Eunbok Mine and Taesamjin Mine, Gyeonggi Province10 thousand metric tons per year2021
GraphiteGraphite > AnodePlantPOSCO Chemical Co. Ltd.Sejong-1 and Sejong-2 plants, Sejong61 thousand metric tons per year2021
LithiumLithium, compound > CarbonatePlantPOSCO Ltd.Gwangyang Works, Gwangyang2 500 metric tons per year2021
LithiumLithium, compound > HydroxidePlantPOSCO Ltd.Gwangyang Works, Gwangyang1 500 metric tons per year2021
NickelNickel > MetalPlantEnertec Co. Ltd.Refinery at Haman, Gyeongnam Province6 thousand metric tons per year2021
NickelNickel > SulfatePlantKorea Energy Materials Co. (KEMCO) (Korea Zinc Co. Ltd., 55%; Young Poong Corp., 15%; LG Chem, 10%; others, 20%)Onsan plant at Onsan, Ulsan80 thousand metric tons per year2021
NickelNickel > MetalPlantKorea Nickel Corp. (Korea Zinc Co. Ltd., 34%; Vale Canada Ltd., 25%; POSCO Ltd., 14%)Onsan nickel refinery at Onsan, Ulsan30 thousand metric tons per year2021

Trade partners

3 recorded flows, 2024

Basemap: Natural Earth (public domain)
  • Recorded trade flow; a thicker line is a larger value
  • Republic of Korea

Lines join the middle of each country. They are not shipping routes.

Recorded trade flows of Republic of Korea: Copper
PartnerMaterialYearValue, US$Source
Import fromChileCopperMine2024$1.4bn
Import fromChileCopperRefine2024$1.1bn
Import fromIndonesiaCopperMine2024$1.1bn

Reconciled customs data (CEPII BACI), by value. The data holds only the largest flows of each material, so this is not the country’s full trade.

0 sites, deposits and projects on record are listed with the map in the Overview →

Money

What the trade data and the World Bank record in money terms. Every value is a reported figure with its own year.

All recorded trade flows of 2024 under the customs codes that isolate one of the ten materials, by value (CEPII BACI, reconciled estimates, current US dollars). Codes that mix several materials are left out, so trade in those materials is understated; gallium and germanium have no usable code at all. Each material lists its five largest partners. Why trade data blurs some materials

Exports of the ten materials

$3.1bnin 2024, with 62 partner countries

Imports of the ten materials

$11bnin 2024, with 84 partner countries

The economy around mining

World Bank indicators. Each has its own latest year, shown next to the value; mineral rents are often several years old.

  • GDP (current US$)

    $1.87tn

    Year 2025

  • Mineral rents (% of GDP)

    0%

    Year 2021

  • Ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports)

    2.6%

    Year 2025

Government revenue from extractives

No data yet. Republic of Korea has no EITI summary record with a government total. Countries report only if they implement the EITI Standard; a missing record does not mean there is no such revenue.

EITI open data

Investment pipeline

announced figures

Planned and under-construction projects in Republic of Korea with a publicly announced capital cost, public financial backing, or both. Each line is one statement by the named publisher on the given date; the atlas adds nothing to it.

No data yet. The atlas has read no announcement of this kind for a project in Republic of Korea. The list is short and hand-read; a missing project is missing from the list, not from the world.

A short, hand-read list, not a census: 19 projects in all. Announced amounts are not spending, a letter of interest or a conditional commitment is not a loan, and amounts stay in the currency of the announcement.

Public support instruments

Stockpiles, price floors, offtake and purchasing programmes and public funds of Republic of Korea's government, as dated policy events of the type "public support". Each is one statement by its publisher.

No data yet. The atlas has read no public support instrument of Republic of Korea's government. The list is short and hand-read.

These figures are informational, not financial advice.

Sustainability

Four indicators, the same on every profile. Each is a figure with its unit, year and source, or a plain statement that there is none.

  • Carbon

    Emissions intensity of the country's electricity grid.

    418gCO2e/kWh

    2025Reported

    Higher than 45% of the other 208 countries with a grid figure.

    • It describes the national grid, not mining or refining. Sites may run on their own power.

  • Water

    Share of the country's mine sites on record that lie in high or extremely high baseline water stress.

    No mine or brine site with a water-stress class is on record in this country.

    • Counted by site, not by tonnage: it is not a share of production.
    • "Arid and Low Water Use" is a class of its own in the source and is not counted as high.

  • Land

    Land visibly used by mining in the country, every commodity together.

    39km²

    2019Estimated

    Higher than 43% of the other 143 countries with a mapped mining area.

    • Rank 82 of 144 countries by area.
    • Mapped from satellite images for all mining in a country. It cannot be attributed to one material or one site.

  • Circularity

    Recycling's share of demand.

    Not available per country: recycling rates in the atlas are published per material, for the EU as a whole.

There is no overall score: the four figures measure different things and are not added up. How to read these figures

Risks & policy

Export controls in force

Compiled by USGS, effective January 2026. Not a live feed.

USGS Table 4 lists no export control by this country for the materials in the atlas.

Chokepoints at sea

The atlas has no record of which minerals pass through which sea passage, so no chokepoint figure is attached to this profile. Current ship counts for the main passages are on the Live page. Open the Live page

Gaps

What the atlas is missing for Republic of Korea

Computed from the data. Each line names a record that exists and one that does not. It marks missing data, not missing industry.

  • Listed as a copper refiner (2.1% of world output; Refinery production, 2025), but no processing plant is on record.
  • Listed as a graphite producer (0% of world output; Mine production, 2025), but no mine is on record.
  • Listed as a graphite refiner (0.2% of world output; Refined battery-grade supply (IEA), 2025), but no processing plant is on record.
  • A graphite producer (0% of world output; Mine production, 2025), but no site record names an owner or operator.
  • Trade is partial by design: the atlas holds only each material's largest flows. 31 of them name this country.

Add dataAll gaps, across materials

Sources

Every source this profile uses, with its licence, the years its figures describe and how sure the figures are. Each chip on the profile opens the single record.

The mining-area figure comes from a share-alike source (CC-BY-SA-4.0). It is kept in its own file under that licence, apart from the rest of the atlas's data.

History & talk

Revision history and discussion are coming soon.

Every change to a figure will be listed here with its source, its credit and its review, and each profile will have a place to discuss it. Until then the data changes only when a source is updated, and every figure links to that source.

What can be contributed today

What we don't know yet

No open source we may use gives these figures. Nothing is estimated to fill them. If you know a public source, add it.

Type the name of a material, a country, a site or a company.