INTRODUCTION OF THE MINERAL MINING INDUSTRY IN VIETNAM...

Up to now, Vietnam has carried out basic investigation, exploration and discovery of more than 5,000 mineral and mine sites. In which, a number of minerals of industrial value have been assessed such as oil and gas (1.2 billion - 1.7 billion m3), coal (240 billion tons), iron (2 billion tons), copper (1.2 billion - 1.7 billion m3). 1 million tons of metal), titanium (600 million tons of heavy minerals), bauxite (10 billion tons), lead zinc, tin, apatite (2 billion tons), rare earth (11 million tons) and minerals as materials construction (52 billion m3). However, with a large continental shelf area of ​​over 1 million km2, the exploration and exploitation of marine mineral resources is still limited, mainly due to the problem of marine geological exploration capacity and investment capital. Of the above-mentioned minerals, except for those like petroleum, coal, iron, titanium apatite, which have been relatively basic and certain exploration; the remaining metallic minerals including non-ferrous metals and precious minerals have just been explored at the baseline (search) level. Before investing and exploiting, enterprises must conduct additional exploration to limit risks.

Most of the minerals in Vietnam have small reserves and are scattered and not concentrated. Vietnam's oil and gas reserves are also not much. With the current production output, if no new reserves are discovered, Vietnam's oil and gas resources will be exhausted in just a few decades. Coal in the mainland has also been gradually depleted. Vietnam is and will have to import coal from abroad to meet domestic demand. Coal reserves in the Red River Delta, according to calculations, can reach several hundred billion tons.

However, coal mining from deep requires very complex technology, currently there is no satisfactory solution to both underground mining and protecting rice land. Without proper technology, mining will greatly affect the environment and social security. The potential of uranium and geothermal energy in Vietnam is insignificant. As for other essential minerals such as gold or diamonds, Vietnam has little or none. Some types of minerals Vietnam has a lot such as bauxite, rare earth, titanium ore, the world also has many, ensuring consumption for hundreds of years and longer.

For a number of important minerals with great potential, the Government has assigned a number of state-owned enterprises to take on key roles in mining according to the socialist-oriented economic model. Specifically, oil and gas exploitation and processing assigned to the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group; mining and processing coal and other minerals assigned to the Vietnam Coal-Mineral Industry Group (Vinacomin); mining and processing chemical minerals (apatite) mainly assigned to Vietnam Chemical Group; exploitation and processing of iron ore is mainly carried out by the Vietnam Steel Corporation and the Vinacomin Group; Exploiting and processing building materials is mainly assigned to Vietnam Cement Corporation and enterprises in the construction and transportation sectors (the construction material mineral industry is managed by the Ministry of Construction).

In addition, there are many private enterprises and joint stock companies involved in the exploitation and processing of small-scale mineral mines in the localities. The total number of mining enterprises (including building materials) to date is about 2,500 enterprises. Besides, there are still hundreds of thousands of other illegal mining facilities competing with each other.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Khac Vinh - Chairman of the General Association of Geology of Vietnam said, summarizing 13 years of implementation of the Law on Minerals (1996-2009) and the reality shows that the exploitation of mineral resources is rampant and meaningless. Organizations in many places have not only caused a great loss of resources, but also adversely affected the infrastructure, severely degraded the system of roads, bridges and culverts, destroyed the living environment, and generated many evils. society for the locality where the mine is located.

Occupational accidents in mining, especially in underground mining and quarrying, occur frequently with a relatively high casualty rate. This represents a low level of development and very lax management in this area. In 13 years, the central level has issued 353 mining licenses and the local level has issued up to 3,822 mining licenses. The provinces that have issued the most mining licenses are Binh Thuan (200), Vinh Long (155), Yen Bai (152), Cao Bang (142), Lam Dong (136), Nghe An (126), Lai Chau. 124) or Lao Cai (121). Many kinds of minerals such as copper, lead, zinc, antimony, or coal are exported crudely to foreign countries, causing significant loss and depletion of the country's mineral resources.

Recent research results by experts from the Consultative Institute for Development (CODE) and the Center for People and Nature (PanNature) also prove that, although the Mineral Law stipulates that the exploitation of raw products is limited, However, most of Vietnam's mining enterprises now want to make quick profits, so they only focus on export exploitation at the level of ores and concentrates.

Therefore, the value and efficiency of use are low, not commensurate with the value of mineral resources, and at the same time cause a great waste of resources due to the inability to make significant use of other accompanying mineral products. Many small-scale mines extract only the richest reserves, discarding all poor ore and associated minerals, leading to a waste of resources due to low level of mechanization and outdated mining technology.

More worryingly, mining in the form of "stripping" also causes great losses in mineral processing. The situation of resource loss in the mining process is still at a high level, especially in underground mines and mines under local management. For example, in gold mining, the recovery of gold ore in processing (total recovery) is currently only about 30-40%, that is, about half is discharged into the environment. A number of surveys and studies on mining losses show that the level of loss in apatite mining is 26-43%; Mining metal ore is 15-30%, building materials is 15-20%.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Luu Duc Hai, Faculty of Environment, University of Natural Sciences - VNU, said that the current problem in processing kiln