Vietnam’s chairman of the Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises, Nguyen Hoang Anh, has met with Ao Hong, the chairman of Chinese state-owned enterprise the China Rare Earth Group–CREG–to discuss cooperating on rare earth extraction and processing in Vietnam, The Investor has reported. Hong told Nguyen that CREG has expertise in extraction, processing, and export of rare earths suggesting the firm could build an entire supply chain in Vietnam (being more than just a mine a crucial part of Vietnam’s rare earths strategy).
Of note, the US Geological Survey’s Mineral Commodity Summaries 2024 estimated Vietnam’s rare earth reserves to be in the vicinity of 22 million tons. China, which has the largest reserves, for comparison, is estimated to have double that at 44 million tons, and Brazil which comes in third place has roughly 21 million tons.
This has seen a lot of interest from outside of Vietnam in developing the industry and a number of players actively pursuing rare-earth development partnerships with Vietnam and Vietnamese firms. This includes: Australia, South Korea, the United States of America, China, and Russia.
Most recently, back in July, South Korea’s Trident Global Holdings and US firm Zoetic Global announced they were partnering-up to develop several rare earth mines in northern Vietnam. This would reportedly be done in collaboration with Vietnam’s Hung Hai Group which owns three mines already.
See also: Vietnam’s Rare Earth Partnership Contenders: Unpacked