Collecting in S. Korea

It looks like I'll be spending about a year in S. Korea. I am quite interested in continuing to collect while I'm there, though I will have to focus on small/micro specimens for weight reasons! Does anyone have any recommendations for localities and/or clubs in the southern part of the peninsula - I'll be near Gunsan, and will have a car and tools.

Thanks for any tips -

Scott

There are some really cool Korean minerals and who's is to say you shouldn't export a few larger ones if they came across your path...Tucson awaits those who find nice crystals in foreign places and there are lots of collectors who I suspect would be jealous of your upcoming opportunities....so why limit yourself to micros or smalls....???
When else will you get a chance such as this?

South Korea has lots of fossil collectors, but no mineral collectors as near as I've been able to determine.

The most famous collecting locality, the Tae Wha mine, has been reclaimed (revegetated), I was told.

If you can get into an active quarry, you will at least not have any competition!

The famous tungsten Tae Hwa mine has been reclaimed since year 2000. However a friend and I succeeded to enter one shaft from the West side in August 2001 and we found some small powellite crystals. We lacked of equipment and were not able to go deeper, but it would have been worth to explore further. One can still find some microminerals on the dumps (wolframite, molybdenite, quartz, etc). We also found some amethyst scepters in Eonyang, but the mine has also been closed down and converted to an attraction park.. Finding good minerals in Korea is as hard as finding local collectors there. With perseverance you might find some interesting minerals, good luck!

Before you go contact the Geological Survey of Korea.While I was there back in the 70's I got a lot of collecting help from them.I was stationed at U.S Army Camp Casey and found a lot of minerals there.Also go into Seoul and check out some of the larger department stores.I found some purple/brown quartz crystals for sale in one of these stores.The crystals were 8 to 10 inches long and there were other mineral specimens for sale.

Thanks for the encouragement - I'll check on the geological survey. Mr. Russo, what equipment were you lacking? A lamp is easy, block and tackle or lots of rope might be a bit tougher... I'm all ears!

Scott

We had some basic equipment such as lamps, but were not prepared to go deep in the mine. We lacked of safety equipment such as blocks, ropes, etc. Incredible scheelites with purple or black luster were found in Tae Hwa in the 70's (see Minrec May-June 1979, P. Bancroft), it is very difficult nowadays to find good specimens, and one has to wait when old collections are recycled. Please contact me trough pm, when you arrive in South Korea, I can provide you more information. All the best.

When I was in the Tae Wha mine in the early 70s, it was still operating and I had only time for a quick tour of the mine. It was obvious that there were many open pockets scattered around in various parts of the mine. The pockets contained mostly quartz crystals and the miners knew what specimens were and collected them for sale. If the mine has not too badly filled up with water, and you could gain access to some of the stopes, you should be able to collect something, although I think all the good stuff would be long gone. I found a nice little scheelite crystal in a boulder on the portion of the dump where they dumped the ore for hand sorting, but I am sure they missed some. By all means talk to some of the people in the geological survey and of course some of the geology professors in the local university and ask them about collecting spots and people that might have specimens. I had a friend, John Whitmeyer, who was a Korean war vet that said that while on a particular hill, even he did not remember exactly where it was, he found a pocket that gave good indications of having good amethyst crystals, but before he could dig any, his unit was driven off by heavy fighting and gunfire. I think that could have been in North Korea or up by the DMZ.
Rock

Hello, I collect minerals worldwide, and teach classes of grammar school students about minerals and rocks. I will be in Seoul, Korea for two days, on April 21 and 22. Do you know of any mineral dealers in Seoul, or places that sell Korean minerals?
Thanks much,
Ed

Only to refresh the question, anyone know of any collecting opportunities, mineral shops, clubs, et al in South Korea? I leave soon!

Thanks,
Scott

I taught at a university in S. Korea one summer a few years ago. To echo Alfredo's statement, I did not find any mineral collectors nor any rock shops. The only rock/mineral stuff I found was rock cut and polished as eggs and amethyst in pendants and other jewelry. I wish I had known to contact the Geological Survey.

Hi Scott. this is a Korean scheelite from my collection,it is in combination with wolframite,no comparison with scheelites from Mt Xuebaoding in China but still nice to have, (lighting could have been better) regards Philip