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Red River Delta to be mined for coal
Vinacomin will soon begin exploring and extracting coal in the Red River Delta on a trial basis, a group senior official said last week.
The group believes that roughly 210 billion tonnes of coal lie beneath the Red River Delta, with up to 90 per cent of the coal in coastal Thai Binh province, the biggest rice bowl in the north, and the rest is in nearby Hung Yen province
“We expect that the government will allow a trial exploration and exploitation project in the first two mining spots in Khoai Chau district, Hung Yen province early next year,” said Vinacomin’s president Tran Xuan Hoa.
The government is reviewing the group’s proposal, which was submitted early October. The company plans to use underground coal gasification (UCG) and underground coal mining (UCM) technologies in the Tien Dung and Binh Minh mines.
In late September, the Interministerial Assessment Council agreed to recommend government approval for Vinacomin’s plan to extract coal from the Red River Delta. This agreement followed a series of meetings regarding the plan’s feasibility and the impacts in the natural environment and rice industry.
The council includes representatives from the ministries of Industry and Trade, Planning and Investment, Finance, Natural Resources and Environment, Agriculture and Rural Development and leaders of Thai Binh and Hung Yen provincial people’s committees.
The council also agreed to recommend that the government approve the trial application of UCG and UCM technologies. “The issues of the environment, rice cultivation and residents’ lives are of utmost concern to the government in regards to this project,” Hoa said.
“Food balance and energy security are also of great concern, particularly as Vietnam is likely to need imported coal for local use in the next couple of years,” he noted.
Vinacomin has estimated that Vietnam will have to import around 7.9 million tonnes of coal in 2012 to feed local coal-fired power plants, which will consume 32.5 million tonnes of coal.
Imports will increase to 9.2 million tonnes in 2013, 25 million tonnes in 2015, 35.2 million tonnes in 2020 and 27 million tonnes in 2025. Hoa said if the exploration and extraction could start next year, the first batch of the Red River Delta coal would be ready by 2015 or 2017.
“We will then make specific assessments and decide on whether to extend the project’s scale,” he said. In May 2009, Vinacomin established a joint venture with Marubeni Corp. of Japan and Linc Energy of Australia to explore coal in the Red River Delta with UCG technology.
The joint venture consists of a 60 per cent stake held by Vinacomin, 20 per cent by Linc Energy and 20 per cent by Marubeni. It is responsible for coal exploration in Tien Dung mine. Vinacomin has also planned to use UCM technology for coal exploration and exploitation in Binh Minh mine.
According to Vinacomin, mining coal reserves in the Red River Delta will cost up to $2.5 billion.
vietnamnet, vir
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