Vinacomin sees Vietnam's maiden alumina refinery ready in June

Work on Vietnam's maiden alumina refinery is expected to be completed in June, a source at project owner Vinacomin said Wednesday.

The 600,000 mt/year refinery in Lam Dong province in the country's south is being built by state-owned Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group, or Vinacomin.

Last November, the source had said Vinacomin planned to operate the plant at half its design capacity for the first six months to a year after start-up.

But the company is now considering running the plant at full capacity as soon as possible, the source said Wednesday. Vinacomin plans to ship the majority of the plant's output to China. The alumina exports will initially be shipped via Go Dau port in Dong Nai province, and later from another port in Binh Thuan province, which is expected to be completed around 2014.

The refinery's building contractor is China's Chalieco, the engineering arm of metal group Chalco. Vinacomin started construction last year on a second alumina refinery in Dak Nong province, which is about 100 km from Lam Dong, also in southern Vietnam.

The 600,000 mt/year plant is scheduled for completion around October 2012, with commercial production expected from the first half of 2013. There are no immediate plans for investment in local aluminium smelters due to Vietnam's inadequate power supply, so Vinacomin will be exporting its alumina.(Platts)