VietNamNet Bridge - It is expected that the Tan Rai bauxite consortium will be officially handed over to the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Group (Vinacomin) in September after a trial period.

Chairman of the Lam Dong Aluminum Company – Mr. Le Viet Quang - has said that the construction of the Tan Rai bauxite project in Lam Dong Province has been completed, with 1.6 million tons of bauxite ore mined. The first phase of this project is designed with a capacity of 650,000 tons of alumina a year. The investor has spent over VND11.6 trillion ($580 million) in this project.

Mr. Tran Van Cang, an official of Bao Lam District, Lam Dong Province, where the project is located, said the Tan Rai bauxite project covers approximately 2,000 hectares. About 900 households had to hand over their land to this project. Twenty households have not received compensation for land.

Cang also said that since the implementation of the project, the water and air environment in this area has been affected. "The impact of the project on the environment is not measured specifically. However, the red sludge discharged from this plant containing chemicals so the chemicals may be dispersed in the air. The contractors and the investor committed that these impacts are within the permissible limits,” he said.

Regards to Chinese labor in this project, Cang said there was a time that this project employed up to 1,500 Chinese workers but at present, most of them have returned home.

According to the representative from the Tan Rai project management board, the project currently uses 1,397 workers, including 1,018 local people. The representative also said that during the trial period, the project did not have any incident.

Close-up to the bauxite complex in Lam Dong

Bauxite ore will be mined and transported to the storage or directly poured into the ore shifting factory.

After the cleaning process, ore will be put into the crusher.

It will be then transported by conveyors to the warehouse.

The processed ore is gathered at the warehouse before going to the alumina processing plant.

The alumina production system is a closed line.

 In the alumina production process, a large amount of heat is utilized for the power plant to serve the entire project.

 The area containing dirt after washing ore.

 The reservoir and water treatment tank, 70 percent of the water will be reused for washing ore.

 Tan Rai project has seven compartments containing red mud.

 This is the volume of mud discharged in ten days.

 People can walk on dried sludge.

The area of the project in the first five years is 1,700 ha. To date, the investor has paid compensation for nearly 1,300 ha, worth VND582.8 billion (nearly $30 million). The investor will have to pay land compensation of VND300 billion.

The project has a calculated lifetime of 30 years, contributing to the budget hundreds of billions of dong annually. This year the plant will pay VND90 billion ($4.5 million) of natural resource taxes and environment fees to the budget and VND201 billion in 2014.

Packaging alumina.

Currently the plant has 1,565 employees.

VNE/VnEconomy