South Hamgyong Province
The Komdok mine, located in Kumgol-dong, Tanchon, South Hamgyong Province, has been in operation since 1932 and is the largest zinc mine in East Asia. It has seven mine blocks extracted through ten mines. It has annual capacity to 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. The mining area was damaged in the 2020 Pacific typhoon season, and its redevelopment was a priority for the North Korean government.