Vietnam rare earths arrests include key figure in bid to build industry (updated)

Australian Strategic Materials

20/10/2023 03:56

(Recasts, adds details)
       HANOI, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Police in Vietnam have
arrested six people accused of violating mining regulations,
including the chairman of a company at the heart of efforts to
develop Vietnam's rare earth industry, seizing 13,715 tons of
rare earths ores.
    Among those arrested was Luu Anh Tuan, chairman of Vietnam
Rare Earth JSC (VTRE), who was accused of forging value added
tax receipts in trading rare earths with Thai Duong Group, which
operates a mine in the northern Vietnamese province of Yen Bai,
the Ministry of Public Security said on Friday.
    VTRE has partnered with Australian mining companies
Australian Strategic Materials (ASM)  ASM.AX  and Blackstone
Minerals LTD  BSX.AX , which were not involved in the
investigation.
    Blackstone had agreed to partner with VTRE to win
concessions at the country's biggest mine, Dong Pao in Lai Chau
province, it said in a public statement in September. 
    A Blackstone executive had told Reuters its investment in
the project would amount to about $100 million should it win the
tender, which it expected to be launched later this year.
    ASM signed a binding agreement in April with VTRE for the
purchase of 100 tons of processed rare earths this year, and
committed to negotiating a longer-term supply deal.
    Calls to Tuan went unanswered on Friday. VTRE's office in
Hanoi has been shut for days, one person at the building said.
    Asked about whether their deals would continue, the two
Australian companies did not immediately respond to a request
for comment. The Australian embassy in Hanoi declined to
comment.
    Doan Van Huan, chairman of Thai Duong Group, was also
arrested, accused of illegally making 632 billion dong ($25.80
million) from the sales of ore extracted from its mine in Yen
Bai province. 
    Calls to Thai Duong Group went unanswered on Friday. 
    Vietnam is planning to organise auctions for concessions at
its largely unexploited rare earths mines, which are considered
to contain the world's second biggest deposits of the critical
minerals used in electric cars and wind turbines.  

 (Reporting by Khanh Vu and Francesco Guarascio; Editing by
Edmund Klamann, Martin Petty)
 ((khanh.vu@thomsonreuters.com;
francesco.guarascio@thomsonreuters.com))