Japan to go to Vietnam to explore rare earths

Japan plans to cooperate with Vietnam to explore rare earth minerals in Vietnam after their home industries became stagnant due to the interrupted supply from China.

VnExpress has quoted an official from the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam saying that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan will visit Vietnam later this year. It is expected that among many issues the leaders of the two countries will discuss during the visit the cooperation to exploit rare earth minerals will be an important one put on the table.

Several days ago, western press agencies also reported that Japan is determined to cooperate with Vietnam to exploit the rare and precious natural resources. Japan is now eyeing Vietnam as the potential supply source which can help Japan to become less dependent on China, so farits only supplier.

The total reserves of rare earths, or rare minerals, are very small on the Earth. Vietnam posseses one of the world’s biggest reserves of 17 million tons.

Nguyen Khac Vinh, Chair of the Vietnam Geology Federation said that the total rare earths reserves in the globe contain 99 million tons, while about 125,000 tons are being exploited every year. China remains the country which has the highest rare earths output. It exploits 120,000 tons a year, or 97 percent of the world’s total output.

There are two kinds of rare earths, heavy and light rare earths, of which heavy rare earths contains more precious elements. Most of the rare earths in Vietnam are light rare earths, according to metallurgy expert Nguyen Van Ban, who once worked for the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin).

In the past, many other countries wanted to cooperate with Vietnam to exploit rare earths, including Poland, Czech, Germany and France. Especially after China revealed the plan to stop exporting rare earth by 2012, Japan has been eyeing Vietnam as the potential alternative.

Rare earths can be used in many industries, including electronic, automobile manufacturing, semi-conductor production, petrochemistry and nuclear industry.

Rare earths can only be exploited with modern technologies which allow seperation of different elements. Ban said that Vietnam has been exploiting rare earths for many years. However, the capacity is limited and not all elements can be separated due to the lack of modern technology,

When asked about the possible impact of the rare earts exploitation on the environment, Ban said all kinds of natural resource exploitation will have certain impacts on the environment. He said that with backward exploitation technologies, radioactive substances in rare earths will be released during the exploitation process and have harmful effect on human health. However, with modern technologies, radioactive substances will be collected to be used for many other purposes.

“The impacts of rare earths exploitation is not as harmful as the red mud released in bauxite exploitation process,” Ban said.

Foreign news agencies reported that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his Vietnamese counterpart would discuss the rare earths exploitation in Hanoi on Oct. 31. Moreover, Japan and Vietnam may consider cooperating with each other to exploit rare earths in other South East Asian countries.

Japan has begun seeking alternative rare earth suppliers after China halted the export of rare earths to Japan in September as the retaliation to Chinese fishing boats being seized by Japan near the disputed archipelago.

Though China has affirmed it does not prohibit the export of rare earths to Japan, Japan said that the supply has not been resumed yet.

Nikkei, quoting its own sources, has reported that the volume of rare earths in stocks in Japan is just big enough to feed the production until March or April of 2011.

Meanwhile, according to AFP, two Japanese companies Toyota Tsusho and Sojitz are cooperating with the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries Group to prepare for the exploitation of rare earths mines in Vietnam.

Another Japanese company, Sumitomo, is making exploration in Yen Bai province in Vietnam. The corporation hopes that Japan will receive the first batch of rare earths by 2013.- VnExpress

Tags: Vietnam rare earth