Atlantic Proposes Bauxite Supply Chain Project in Vietnam

2011-09-30

Sep. 29, 2011 - Australia-listed Atlantic Limited said Thursday it has signed an agreement with Vietnam targeting an integrated bauxite "mine-rail-port" supply chain project in the country's Central Highlands.
Under the agreement, signed with the Institute of Mining Science & Metallurgy under the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade, or MoIT, a development study would be carried out to "assess the mine-rail-port proposal submitted by Atlantic to local and national authorities, and which formed the basis of Atlantic's submission to the MoIT for consideration in the rewrite of the national master-plan for the industry," Atlantic said in a statement.
The study would be a precursor to a full feasibility study and the forming of a joint venture to develop and obtain the necessary approvals for the project, the company added.
Atlantic is proposing a large-scale bauxite mining operation, to be developed in stages, and a 260 km third-party access heavy haul rail line for transporting mined bauxite from the Central Highlands to the coast where bulk port infrastructure would be built.
The company may build a refinery and smelting facility at a later stage, said Atlantic.
Atlantic already has a memorandum of understanding with state-owned Vietnam Natural Resources and Environment Corporation for the development of a major rail, mine, processing and port project in the Central Highlands, targeting markets in East Asia where there is refining and smelting overcapacity but an undersupply of high quality bauxite.
The company is planning to develop a new rail line from bauxite deposits in Lam Dong and Dak Nong to export facilities, with the port of Ke Ga being among the options.
Gipsit bauxite is found in southern Vietnam's Tay Nguyen provinces such as Dak Nong, Lam Dong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum, which account for 91.4% of the country's reserves.
Vietnam has estimated gipsit bauxite reserves of 5.4 billion mt, equivalent to 2.3 billion mt of bauxite concentrate, according to information from the website of state-owned Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Group, or Vinacomin.
Vinacomin had said in June that it was targeting to start commercial production late this month at the country's first alumina refinery in Lam Dong province, which has a capacity of 600,000 mt/year. The company has plans to ship nearly all of the output to China, from Go Dau port in Dong Nai province.
The company is also building a second alumina refinery in Dak Nong province, targeting completion in late 2012. Its capacity will be 650,000 mt/year.