President Lee Chong-yong of MIRECO.

MIRECO has been working hard for economic revival of the closed mine areas in Gangwon Province, like Jeongseon, Taebaek and Wonju and now the company came up with a new project to change the face of Yeongwol, also in the same province.

The project was selected by Special Committee for the Revival of Cities of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport as a special representative project to revive the cities in the region in the second half of the year.

Around 120,000 square meters of land located in 486-32 in Deokpo-ri, Yeongwol County, is up for the municipal revival project, The area needs the project badly as many coal mines in the area went out of business and the city needs to get back its old status as the symbol of the area as the key logistics center.

Under the project, a total of 33.3 billion won will be plowed down by 2023 to expand the commercial area, for revival of joint entities and SOCs for daily lives.

Among the representative works are ‘Marsh snail’ “C-Working Center, Yeongwol Love market and the Young World Oullilm Center. ‘Marsh snail’ will be turned into a regional brand and nurture it. Also in the card is the creation of an ever present market in connection with the Deokpo-ri five-day market.

President Lee Chong-yong of MIRECO said the MIRECO’s ability to plan has been confirmed with the selection of the Yeongwol Peroject following last year’s Taebaek Project. From now on, we will work on the city revival projects taking advantages of the special nature of the coal mine closure areas to create jobs and ac preemptively to cope with the moves to close the dilapidated coal mine areas.

Mine Reclamation Corporation (MIRECO) under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is the only organization specialized in mine reclamation in Korea. Since its inception, MIRECO has contributed to restoring the environment damaged by mining operations and revitalizing the economy of abandoned mining areas.

MIRECO conducted "MIRECO Global Fellowship Program for Mongolia on Case Study on Utilization of Mining Heritage in Korea" from October 15 to 19, 2019.

Mongolia is one of the resources-rich developing countries and mining sector makes a major contribution to the economy.

Recently, more mines are needed to prepare for mine closure and in this regards Mongolian government asked field trip program on mine closure and post-mining land use. This time, 14 public officers and experts from Ministries, Berkh City and Korean Embassy in Mongolia.

MIRECO received the Grand prize at the "5th Korea Innovative Safety & Security Expo 2019". The K-Safety Expo is Korea's largest trade fair focused on local safety industry and this year almost 500 companies and organizations participated and presented their inventions at the exhibition.

Through the competition, MIRECO finally was awarded the Grand prize with "MIRECO EYE" - the Digitization and Figuration Analysis of the Underground Mine Cavity.

MIRECO EYE is used not only in mining areas but also for city sinkhole which has directly connection to the safety of people.

The Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) promotes accelerated, diversified and scaled-up transfer of environmentally sound technologies for climate change mitigation and adaptation, in developing countries, in line with their sustainable development priorities.

As defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate technologies cover any piece of equipment, technique, practical knowledge or skills for performing a particular activity that can be used to face climate change.

The participants pose for a photo session after signing a new deal for revival of Yongwol County at the Yongwol County Office on July 18 between MIRECO and the Yongwol County led by County Administrator Choi Myung-seo, 2nd L, and President Lee Chong-yong for MIREcO, 2nd R. (Photos: MIRECO)