Vietnam to invest $7.3bn to boost alumina, aluminum production

Reuters | April 9, 2024 | 

Aluminum ingots. Stock image.

Vietnam’s top miner Vinacomin plans to invest 182 trillion dong ($7.3 billion) to ramp up its alumina-aluminum production to meet the country’s rising demand for the metal, the government said on Tuesday.


The investment by the state-run firm will go to two bauxite exploration projects and five refining projects in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong, the government said in a statement. It did not give a time frame for completion.

The Southeast Asian country, a regional manufacturing hub, started its alumina production more than a decade ago, but there have been concerns about pollution and high electricity consumption.

According to the government, Vinacomin will raise the alumina capacity of its Nhan Co Alumina complex to 2 million tons a year from 650,000 tons.

It will also triple the capacity of the bauxite-alumina-aluminum Dak Nong complex nearby to 2 million tons of alumina and 0.5-1 million tons of aluminum a year, the government said.

Dak Nong province has a reserve of 5.4 billion tons of bauxite, the most common raw material used for alumina and aluminum production, according to state media.

(By Khanh Vu; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)