korea to stockpile

Korea is about to stockpile commodities which are already in short supply, this might be very interesting for the prices of REO. It may even trigger a scramble.

First Rare Minerals Storage Facility Opens In South Korea


December 8, 2007 7:11 a.m. EST


Windsor Genova - AHN News Writer
Icheon, South Korea (AHN) - South Korea on Friday opened its first storage facility for rare minerals in Icheon, south of the capital Seoul.

The facility aims to store up to two months' supply of chromium, tungsten, molybdenum, antimony, titanium, niobium, selenium and so-called rare earth metals to ensure the continued operation of steel, electronics, machinery, energy and weapons factories in the country in case of shortage of the eight minerals in the world market.

The Korea Resources Corp. (KRC) operates the $185-million facility covering nearly 54,000 square feet (5,000 square meters) of area. It can store 3,510 tons of materials.

The firm will expand the site to 231,000 square feet (21,450 square meters) so it can hold up to 76,000 tons of the rare minerals, which have no substitute.

Korea.net quoted KRC president Lee Han-ho as saying that the steady increase in the prices of rare minerals make it imperative for the country to have a ready reserve of the metals.

According to He, few countries produce the rare minerals and major industrialized countries, such as Japan and the U.S., have similar but bigger facilities that can hold six months to four years' worth of supply.

Prior to the establishment of the said facility, imported rare minerals goes straight to the market. Only storage facilities for base metals such as nickel, copper, lead and zinc exist in the country.