Natural minerals will be protected, managed, exploited, and used in a
reasonable, economical, and efficient manner to serve the country’s
short and long-term socio-economic sustainable development, national
defence and security, and environmental protection.
It was stated
in the mineral strategy mapped out for the period from now to 2020 with
a vision toward 2030, which was approved by the Prime Minister.
Accordingly,
production of all small-sized mineral processing facilities and
out-of-date technologies causing environmental pollution need to be
halted by 2020, said Head of the Heavy Industry Department under the
Ministry of Industry and Trade Nguyen Manh Quan.
Exploitation needs to combine with processing and hi-tech processing industrial zones must be developed, Quan said.
He proposed boosting international cooperation to gain cutting-edged
technologies in the surveying, exploration, exploitation and processing
of minerals and encouraging the sector’s external partnerships to
process the minerals that are hugely needed by the country.
Dr.
Nguyen Van Thuan, Head of the General Department of Geology and
Minerals, said over 5,000 mining and mineral sites have been identified
nationwide to date.
Several minerals were estimated to hold huge reserves, such as oil and gas coal, titanium, bauxite, and rare earth, Thuan said.
Over the past years, the mining sector has significantly contributed to
the country’s industrial development and economic growth.
Petroleum and coal are noted for earning hard currencies for the country, bringing home about 10 billion USD in 2012 alone.-VNA