Does bauxite in Dak Nong contain valuable metals?
Regarding the ‘red mud’ that will be waste from Nhan Co project, two branches of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MONRE), that is, the General Department of Environment and the Agency for Environmental Impact Assessment, agreed with Dak Nong authorities that investors must carefully research the geological structure of the area to prevent incidents such as a break in the red mud reservoir. Landslides and flash floods are common in Dak Nong. Dak Nong province has so far only authorized bauxite mining on half of the 500 square kilometres of bauxite ore deposits. However, with estimated reserves of 270 million tonnes of ore, the Nhan Co project can operate for 235 years. Red mud is problematic but it could be the “material” for extracting other metals. MONRE’s Mineral and Geology Agency chief Nguyen Van Thuan said that bauxite ore in Dak Nong contains some rare and valuable metals such as potassium and vanadium. These metals will be discharged along with the red mud, so
