Information on the variety of ore mineral re- sources used during and before the Joseon Dynasty and their production districts on the Korean Pen- insula is summarized in the Chosun Ore Deposits in Ancient Literature published by the Japanese geologist Kawasaki. The literature indicates that the prospecting and mining of mineral resources precedes the Joseon Dynasty. The number of ore minerals noted in the ancient literature is substan- tial—twenty times the number we know of today.

Carl Gottsche, a German geologist, visited Ko- rea on a German diplomatic mission in 1883 and carried out geological research of the peninsula to publish the rst geologic map of Korea in the paper Geologische Skizze von Korea (1886). The geo- logical study on Korea by foreign geologists was intensi ed with increasing pressure from the great European powers to acquire mining rights after the Sino-Japanese war in 1894. In 1903, Goto Bunjiro produced An Orographic Sketch of Korea, explain- ing the structure and origin of mountain ranges on the Korean Peninsula and producing a Geotectonic Map of Korea at a scale of 1:2,000,000.