[Translator] South Korea: An Urgent Need for Aggregates as a National Strategic Resource

2023-04-11 16:01:43

Aggregate is indispensable in modern life, and it is the largest resource after air and water, so it must be systematically managed as a national strategic resource.

Aggregate is the largest resource after air and water.

Our life is closely related to aggregates. We live in homes made of aggregates, go to work on roads made of aggregates, and go to work or school in companies and schools made of aggregates. Aggregates, as components of buildings and roads, constitute various spaces of society.

Aggregate refers to the sand or gravel obtained by mining and production of rocks (only for gravel) in rivers, oceans, forests, underground, ground and other locations, which is one of the basic materials for construction projects. It is no exaggeration to say that aggregate is indispensable in contemporary life and is the most important resource after air and water.

In addition, aggregate accounts for more than 70% of the total mass of concrete, and its demand has increased from 136 million cubic meters in 1990 to 243 million cubic meters in 2021, keeping pace with the growth of industrial and urban construction.

It can be seen that aggregates play a role in most areas of our society, and like wind, light, water and trees, they are necessary resources that need to be used continuously in the past, present and future. However, in reality, most people do not realize the importance of aggregates at all. The annual output of aggregates in

South Korea is five times that of Nanshan. The average annual use of aggregates

in South Korea is 7.3 tons. All the resources on the earth are limited. As long as they continue to be used, they will be exhausted one day. What would our society be like without oil, without water, without aggregates? Although the aggregate is unremarkable, it is closely related to our life. If the aggregate resources are exhausted, it will have a huge impact on our living, national economic development and national security. The industrial scale of

Korean aggregates is about 4 trillion won/year. Based on 2021, there are more than 14000 enterprises registered as aggregate collection industry, with an annual aggregate output of 240 million cubic meters (400 million tons), five times that of Nanshan. 39% of these aggregates are used for civil construction, 56% for residential construction and 5% for road construction. At the same time, aggregate use has increased by about 20% since 2014, with 7.3 tons of aggregate per capita per year in South Korea. These data prove that aggregates are an indispensable and valuable resource in our lives.

Nevertheless, the aggregate industry in Korea still faces some problems to be solved. After 1990, due to the exhaustion of river sand and the limitation of sea sand collection, mountain forest aggregate accounted for more than 50% of the gravel supply, and the supply of screened and crushed aggregate increased, which changed the supply and demand environment. As a result, an imbalance between aggregate supply and demand may arise as the cost of transportation (the maximum distance between aggregate production and collection sources is 100 km) exceeds the price of aggregate. The

aggregate related system also needs to be improved. In the sub-sectors of the Korean Standard Industrial Classification, according to the production and collection of aggregates, the aggregates from the sea, land and water are classified as the sand and gravel collection industry, the mountain forest aggregates are classified as the stone mining and gravel production industry for construction, the aggregate screening and crushing industry is classified as the non-metallic mineral crushing production industry, and the sea sand washing is classified as the aggregate, brick and cement wholesale industry. However, these aggregates have the same purpose of use and quality standards, and they do not belong to the manufacturing industry, but to the basic industry. Therefore, from the perspective of production consistency, it is necessary to unify the gravel and sand production industry.

So how about the aggregate collection method? The Aggregate Collection Law stipulates that basic matters such as aggregate supply and demand plan, aggregate collection employment registration, quality management and aggregate collection (production) permit shall be handled through consultation among relevant units according to the production area and form. However, the arbitrary judgment and negative administrative attitude of the aggregate collection licensing authority have aggravated the instability of supply and demand, making it difficult to take preventive measures against the supply and demand of aggregates, resulting in structural problems in the aggregate industry.

It is worth noting that the collection (production) of mountain forest aggregates does not adopt the aggregate collection method, but the mountain management method for the purpose of forest protection and forestry development. Because the Mountain Forest Department regards mountain stones as forestry products, there are many difficulties in obtaining the permission to collect earth and stone.

In order to prepare for a better future, the national strategic resource

of core materials is an essential resource for human sustainable life. In order to better meet our future, aggregate must be systematically managed as a national strategic resource. For this reason, it is time to change the whole aggregate industry.

First, we need to change people's understanding of bone materials. Aggregates are valuable resources that make up Korean society and cities, and they are also limited resources that will be exhausted one day. People should realize that if we are not prepared for this, our peaceful life and even the development of the national economy will be hindered. In his book The World Made of Sand, Vince Ben Ezer, an American journalist, said: Sand is the most natural resource we consume after water and air, and the shortage of sand has already occurred.

Second, the name of the aggregate collection method should be changed to (temporarily) the aggregate industry method. At present, the aggregate collection law is a law regulating the excavation of sand or gravel in a natural state such as a river. However, for a stable supply of aggregates in the future, it is necessary to legislate on the whole act of producing (manufacturing) aggregates through mineral resources, etc., rather than just on the collection of aggregates. Therefore, we should change the name of the law and put aggregates in the position of an important industry of national infrastructure.

Third, as the core basic materials of the construction industry, it is necessary to legalize the field of aggregates in the basic laws of construction. Aggregate accounts for 70% ~ 80% of the volume of construction engineering, which is an important factor affecting the safety of buildings. Therefore, it is necessary to take aggregates as one of the legal subjects in the Basic Law of the Construction Industry. In order to ensure the quality (safety) and stable supply of construction projects, the institutional scheme of aggregate supply and demand plan should also be put forward in the relevant laws and regulations.

Fourthly, we need to improve the way of aggregate mining and adopt the long-term development mode of scale and centralization from top to bottom. 65% of the land of Korea is mountainous, so the aggregate reserves are abundant, and the granite lithology is very good. However, there are many difficulties in obtaining quarrying permits because the Mountain Management Act is prescribed for forest cultivation and considers mountain rocks as forest products. Permits are also generally limited to three to five years, and because they are short-term permits, the upper ridge cannot be mined. Therefore, South Korea adopts the vertical stepped mountain quarrying method, which causes serious damage to the environment. Foreign countries have moved away from this approach, allowing for intensive top-down mining of ridge slopes that is environmentally resilient and beneficial to maintaining biodiversity. At the International Symposium on Aggregate Industry held from November 15 to 16,

2022, Cesar Luaches Prades (Cesare Luzzi Prades), President of the Spanish Mining Association, introduced environmentally friendly aggregate mining methods, such as the introduction of large-scale centralized top-down methods. It also authorizes a licensing period of up to 90 years to systematically promote environmental restoration, increase biodiversity and minimize environmental damage.

Fifth, it is necessary to regard aggregate as a national strategic resource at the government level. Although the aggregate production license is carried out according to the aggregate collection regulations, the relevant administrative agencies often postpone or refuse administrative consultation under the pretext of letters and visits, environment, etc. In addition, there is duplication of work in permitting because the mountain forest aggregates in high demand are under the control of the Mountain Management Act. The administrative regulation based on autonomous decision-making and the negative attitude of relevant personnel show that the licensing and approval authorities also have structural problems that hinder the development of bone industry. Therefore, it is necessary to treat aggregates as a national strategic resource, to institutionalize uniform licensing in aggregate collection regulations, and to incorporate the aggregate supply network system specified in the aggregate supply plan into legal obligations.

Sixth, the waste stone powder, a by-product of aggregate, should be used as a soil material for farmland. Due to the depletion of river sand and the limitation of sea sand collection, the current supply of aggregate is turning to construction waste, mountain forest mineral resources and so on, in order to make up for the shortage of aggregate. The fine stone powder and waste stone powder produced in such an aggregate crushing process have been determined by the environmental department to be environmentally harmless to agricultural soil, and can be reused as farmland soil materials according to the waste management law. However, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry only allows reclaimed sand and gravel produced from construction waste to be used in farmland soil, limiting the use of waste stone powder and leading to an increase in violations. With the change of aggregate supply environment, the production proportion of screened and crushed aggregate is gradually increasing, so it is necessary to use the fine stone powder and waste stone powder in the by-product of aggregate as the soil material of farmland.

It can not be denied that most of the civilization of today's society is inseparable from the aggregate. Just as we cannot live without water and air, we cannot predict what will happen to our society without aggregates. Because aggregates play an important role in almost all areas of our lives, it is imperative to take aggregates as a national strategic resource for the stable supply of these valuable resources (aggregates) and to prevent the shortage of aggregates in the future.

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Aggregate is indispensable in modern life, and it is the largest resource after air and water, so it must be systematically managed as a national strategic resource.

2023-04-11 16:01:43