The Poongwon Germanium Mine

Registered at the Ministry of Commerce Industry and Energy (no. 65667)

Raw Germanium Ore

Our raw germanium ore is being exported to 4 different countries already.

Currently, the only places in the world where germanium can be mined are from purifying traces of it contained in copper and nickel mines. Examples of this are locations such as Zaire Republic and Namibia in southwestern Africa, and the Kentucky mine in America, which is estimated to have 0.004~0.4% germanium in its ore. Germanium has also been discovered in Northern Japan in the Asinuma Mine, but the purity there was estimated to be 0.003~0.0009%; far too low for it to be extracted as even low-grade ore. Purified germanium can cost up to 7.5 ~ 11.4 million US dollars per tonne, and in Korea its use was highly monitored and constrained due to the high importing costs. There have been several attempts to mine Germanium within Korea before, but only trace elements could be found and the whole venture was deemed not profitable. However, with persistence, a company called Poongwong Corps. finally discovered a germanium-rich lode in a mountain range in Kyeongju-Si and received large amounts of media attention for it. (97.5.28 Central News, TBC News, 97.5.31 The Economic Times, 97.7.2 The Daedong Times, 98.10.22 The Korean Times etc.) The ore produced by Poongwon Corp. is exported to 4 different countries (Germany, Japan, Ukraine, and Taiwan), as well as being supplied to over sauna and bath. Furthermore, not content with merely producing industrial building materials, Poongwon Corps. developed Poongwon Ceramics (far infra-red light) in order to ensure a healthy living environment for everyone involved. Currently, germanium fertilizer and feed is also being supplied to many farms across Korea, and Poongwon Bio also holds the only patent in the world for developing a germanium-enriched fabric that cuts out harmful electromagnetic waves.