• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.345-357
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• 2008

Korea has been one of the top ranked countries in the per capita and total consumption of Cu, Zn, Pb, and Ni since economic development based on manufacturing industries. The current instability of mineral demand and supply in Korea is likely to continue or exacerbate in accordance with economic growth in developing countries such as BRICs. Korea needs to increase the self-development portion of strategic mineral resources including Cu, Zn, Pb, and Ni. Our analysis of mineral demand and supply data predicts a long-run instability of supply and demand for main minerals used in the Korean manufacturing industries, and suggests a long range government policy for stable supply of core mineral resources.