Vietnam: National Assembly delegates inspect Vinacomin’s Bauxite mining projects in Central Highlands

On 15^th March, Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group, Vinacomin’s bauxite mining projects in the Central Highlands has been inspected by a delegation of the National Assembly

The delegation inspected the mining site and production processes in Bao Lam district’s Lam Dong province, predominantly the management and treatment of hazardous chemicals during the alumina production process at the Tan Rai Alumina Plant of Vinacomin’s Lam Dong Aluminum Co. Ltd.

The delegates’ paid special attention to environmental rehabilitation at former mining areas and red mud treatment.

Nguyen Tien Manh, Deputy General Director of Vinacomin, said: “The bauxite projects in Lam Dong and neighbouring Dak Nong province have spent $1.7 million on environmental protection.”

“In 2020, the two projects exploited more than 1.4 million tonnes of alumina, generating nearly 9.46 trillion VND in revenue, which has considerably contributed to the State budget”, he added.

The Lam Dong Aluminum Company said: “It mined over 3.61 million tonnes of bauxite last year, which produced 707,200 tonnes of alumina, earning nearly 2.74 trillion VND in revenue and paying about 241 billion VND to the State budget.”

It has carried out most of the NA working group’s recommendations issued during an inspection visit in February 2018, including building dust and exhaust treatment facilities, installing three automatic wastewater monitoring stations, conducting environmental rehabilitation on about 100ha of land, and constructing a rainwater collection and drainage system.

Concurrently, the Dak Nong Aluminum Company under Vinacomin in 2020 recorded almost 4.5 million tonnes of bauxite, which produced 715,268 tonnes of alumina. The business earned 2.9 trillion VND in revenue and contributed 410.6 billion VND to the State budget.

Vinacomin also emphasized its good performance in following four of the seven recommendations made by the NA delegation three years ago, includes completion of legal procedures, installing automatic wastewater minoring stations, setting up a hazardous waste warehouse, and dealing with dust in the mining and production areas. The other recommendations about dealing with odour from the coal residue dumping ground, building a red mud storing lake, and planting trees in the mining and production areas are being implemented.

Phan Xuan Dung, Chairman of the NA’s Committee for Science, Technology and Environment said: “Despite difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the bauxite projects in Lam Dong and Dak Nong exploited over 1.4 million tonnes of alumina equivalent and brought about profits of 320 billion VND last year.”