Vietnam OKs 40 per cent Foreign Stake in Bauxite Projects

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has allowed the Vietnam Coal and Minerals Group (Vinacomin) to set up joint stock companies with foreign investors holding a maximum stake of 40 per cent, Vinacomin at least 51 per cent and the remaining 9 per cent offered to the public, state media reported.

 

A document was issued May 2 providing the PM’s instructions on investment mechanism in projects with foreign partners’ participation to explore bauxite and produce alumina in the Central Highlands and explore bauxite in southern Binh Phuoc province.

 

The group was required to promptly carry out the Nhan Co Alumina project in Dak Nong province and Tan Rai bauxite project in Lam Dong province in the Central Highlands.

 

Vinacomin may offer the U.S.’s Alcoa Group a stake of up to 40 per cent to invest in the Nhan Co alumina project ; and up to 20 per cent for China ’s Yunnan metallurgy group to inject in the Tan Rai bauxite project. The Nhan Co alumina project has been permitted to increase its output to 600,000 tons a year.

 

The group also received approval in principle for its plan to establish a joint stock company to build the railway linking Dak Nong, Lam Dong and Binh Thuan provinces, with the participation of foreign partners which invest in bauxite projects in the Central Highlands.

 

The PM also gives directive on the participation of China’s Chalco group in the May 1 and Quang Son mining projects.

 

The government leader also asked Vinacomin to submit detailed explanations for its joint-venture plan with the BHP group of the U.K. and Australia, under which the BHP will contribute 49 per cent to a railway project linking the Central Highlands and the southern central province of Binh Thuan and 10 per cent to a bauxite mining and processing project in Cambodia. (Local sources)