Browns polymetallic ore deposit "sulfide" resources. The oxide resources consist of supergene or weathered sulfide ore where the ore mineralogy is dominated by metal oxides, hydroxides, clays and carbonates after the original sulfide mineralogy. The Browns deposit is currently being developed as a major base metals mine by Compass Resources NL, an Australian public company, in joint venture with Hunan Nonferrous Metals Corporation, a Chinese government company. The mine is due to be complete in August 2008, after suffering cost escalation and construction delays, and will produce 15,000 tonnes of copper, 4,000 tonnes of cobalt and 4,000 tonnes of nickel per annum, with a
Mining in North Korea handle 10 million tons of zinc ore. Conventional flotation methods are adopted to extract lead and zinc concentrates. Other products from the mine are sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and galena. In gold alone the nation is estimated to hold around 2,000 metric tonnes of reserves, which at a gold value of $1,200/ounce, would give a total worth of $84.6 billion. Other available resources include iron, with 5 billion tonnes of 50% iron-content ore in reserve, nickel, with 36,000 tonnes of the pure metal, and zinc metal, with around 21,100,000 tonnes. The Daebong Mine, located on the border of Gapsan and Woonheung in