The Vietnam Mineral Corporation (Vimico), the country's largest mining company, on April 7 kicked off an aluminum bauxite complex project in Central Highlands Lam Dong province, the first and the largest of its kind in the nation.
The VND7.8 trillion or US$490.56 million project is to have a production capacity of 1.7 million tons of bauxite and 600,000 tons of alumina a year.
The complex, scheduled to be operational in 2009, has sufficient mineral reserves to operate for more than a century, Vimico said. The complex is expected to boost economic development in the region and create jobs for around 16,000 people.
Earlier this year, the government approved Vimico's application to be the sole investor in the massive project. The company plans to finance the scheme with loans of VND5.5 trillion ($345.91 million) from international banks, VND1.2 trillion ($75.47 million) from the State Investment and Development Fund, and VND500 billion ($31.44 million) from the Fund for the Equitization of State-owned enterprises.
According to the Ministry of Industry (MoI), the world's four biggest alumina importers, the US, Canada, Russia and China, import a combined total of 14 million tons of the mineral each year to be refined into aluminum. Output from the Lam Dong project would be largely earmarked for export to these countries, the ministry said.
Geological surveys reveal Vietnam has reserves of more than eight million tons of bauxite, used in alumina production, ranking it 4th behind only Australia, Guinea and Brazil.
The northern provinces of Cao Bang and Lang Son contain 120 million of bauxite deposits while central highland provinces have an estimated 7.9 billion tons, none of which has been exploited to date.
VNA
Vietnamese
