The Namp'o Smelting Complex was a

smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including Silver mining#Ore processing, silver, iron-making, iron, copper extracti ...

in Hadaedu-dong, Hanggu-guyŏk,

Namp'o Nampo (North Korean official spelling: Nampho; ), also spelled Namp'o, is the second largest city by population and an important seaport in North Korea, which lies on the northern shore of the Taedong River, 15 km east of the river's mouth. ...

Special City,

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. Prior to closure, it employed over 700 workers. It was a comprehensive nonferrous metal production facility including smelters for

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

, other metal rolling and alloy production, smelting by-products, and chemical fertiliser production. In 1997, annual production capacity was 15,000 tons of

blister copper Copper extraction refers to the methods used to obtain copper from its ores. The conversion of copper consists of a series of physical and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ore source, loca ...

, 5,500 tons of refined copper, 7,000 tons of copper wire, 28,000 tons of zinc, and 5,000 tons of lime fertiliser. Concentrates and ores were received from the mines at Taedae-ri and Suan. The facility was served by the

Korean State Railway The Korean State Railway (), commonly called the State Rail () is the operating arm of the Ministry of Railways of North Korea and has its headquarters at P'yŏngyang. The current Minister of Railways is Chang Jun Song. History 1945–195 ...

via Tojiri on the Tojiri Line.

History

The Chinnampo Smelter was originally opened in stages between 1913 and 1915 as a privately owned company during the Japanese colonial era. Destroyed during the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

, it was repaired and reopened in January 1946. The complex was closed down in the late 1990s and had been demolished by 2001, reportedly due to pollution issues.The Mineral Industry of North Korea in 2004, John C Wu, 2005.
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References

{{reflist Metal companies of North Korea