The operation will make it possible to ship much more iron ore concentrates to smelters and steel mills and further advance toward the fulfillment of the five-year plan for the mining and metallurgical sector, it said.

The Musan open-pit mines produce around two million tons of iron ore concentrate every year and are the largest of their kind in the DPRK.

The mining industry is one of the most important components of the country’s economy and minerals are its most important export product.

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