Korea Resources Corp. President Koh Jung-sik delivers a speech at a 

ceremony to kick off the new year at the KORES headquarters on 

Jan. 2. (photo: courtesy of KORES, article by S. Y. Kim)

Korea Resources Corporation (KORES) President Koh Jung-sik, in his New Year’s message, said, “We’ve grasped principal strategies and core capabilities to achieve the goal of becoming one of the global top 20 players in the mining and resources sector during last year, and this year, we’ll have to step on the gas to flesh them out.”

“In order to become an overseas resources development leader, not an agency of promotion, in accordance with the 2008 amendment of the Act on KORES,” he said, “we have to reinvent our DNA, and we are keenly aware of the stark reality that we quite lack those capabilities.”

Koh went on to say that it is impossible for KORES to push projects by way of simply gathering mineral resources and bringing them home, because nations are calling for a contribution to their industrialization. “We’ve learned the lesson that we cannot have a competitive edge unless we obtain our own technological power, and only when our corporation has its differentiated technological prowess can KORES, a leader of a consortium of Korean conglomerates, push projects to support resources-rich nations, particularly while pursuing shared growth with SMEs.”

In this regard, he said, the “3D Challenge” event, held by the Exploration Business Division last December, was very significant, as it was a collective attempt to embrace new technological capabilities. KORES hosted a friendly competition called the ‘2013 COREA (Campus Ore Reserve Estimation Arena)’ to promote the training of future junior miners in the adoption of 3D modeling and mineral resources evaluation. The 3D modeling application is useful in calculating the optimum resource ore evaluation. KORES is using 3D modeling in the site exploration infrastructure to increase its success in mineral resources development. 

This effort need to be spread to mine development, dressing, refining process technology development, plant construction, operation management, financing, and legal affairs, to serve as opportunities to strengthen KORES’s omnidirectional capabilities, Koh said. 

The president urged his executives and staff members to keep their end up while conducting their jobs passionately and more dynamically, and to have a more responsible attitude and to grow into seasoned experts with the right stuff to equal any employee of the global top 20 resources companies. He added that the goal of becoming one of the global top 20 resources developers is to have right stuff in moral and ethical aspects on top of the size of assets, technology, and personnel capabilities. 

Starting this year, he said, KORES has inaugurated such entities as junior site exploration companies working actively in such resource powerhouses as Canada; a chief technology officer charged with fixing site technology issues in key resource development areas in an effort to boost the corporation’s competitive edge; an investment-related legal trouble-shooting office; and the Engineering, Procurement, and Construct-ion Management (EPCM) Office.

Koh noted that it is important to create new entities, but the more significant, daunting task is to scout and sustain talented manpower corresponding to the new organizational structure. 

“The mission entrusted to us by the government and people and our dreams are for our corporation to achieve what global resources majors have done over 100 years — successfully condensing our growth into a Korean-style multinational resources development leader by 2020.” 

KORES, as one of Korea’s state owned energy and resources enterprises, has its roots in the mining industry since its establishment as the Korea Mining Promotion Corporation in 1967. In 2008, KORES was reborn with a vision to grow into one of the global top 20 players in the mining and resources sector by 2020. The ambitious transformation reflected the Korean government’s strong commitment to meeting the ever-growing natural resources needs of the Korean economy.

Korea had been one of the poorest countries in the world until a mere generation ago, but now as a member of the 20-50 club — a per capita income exceeding $20,000, and a population exceeding 50 million — Korea has acquired a competitive edge in the manufacturing and trading sectors. In fact, Korea is the world’s fifth largest mineral resources consumer, mainly due to the demands from the steel, electronics, automobile, shipbuilding, and chemicals industries. As such, it is time to turn over a new leaf and overhaul the Korean mining and natural resources industries to keep up pace with Korea’s manufacturing sectors.