Luu Anh Tuan, Chairman of mining company VTRE in his Hanoi office with samples of rare earth oxides in HanoiBy Francesco Guarascio and Khanh Vu
The auction's timing could change but the government plans to restart the mine next year, said Luu Anh Tuan, chairman of Vietnam Rare Earth JSC , the country's main refiner and Blackstone's partner in the project. Sealing such deals would address a hurdle faced by developers in Vietnam. In recent years, Japanese investors Toyota Tsusho and Sojitz abandoned projects at Dong Pao after China ramped up supply, pummelling prices. The Japanese firms did not respond to requests for comment.
Still, rare earths at Dong Pao are relatively easy to access and are mostly concentrated in bastnaesite ores, according to the Hanoi University of Mining and Geology. Vietnam also plans to develop additional mines. In July, Hanoi set a target to produce up to 60,000 tons of REO equivalent a year by 2030. China set a domestic quota of 210,000 tons last year.
But recent U.S. attempts to gain a foothold in the Vietnamese industry did not succeed, said John Rockhold, a consultant to the rare-earths sector and president of the Hanoi chapter of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, adding that one such plan involving VTRE collapsed this year. An existing VTRE factory in northern Vietnam specialises in separating rare-earth oxides from the extracted ore. The plant has capacity to process 5,000 tons of REO a year but the company plans to treble that to accommodate input from Dong Pao, Tuan said.
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