Vietnam con potentially become a major rare earth player in the world as the country possesses the third-largest reserves of the minerals while China has signaled to restrict the export of rare earth to the US as a retaliation measure in the ongoing trade war, according to VietNamNet.
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Recent prospections have found rare earth ores in Vietnam, mainly in some Northern provinces of Lai Cha, Lao Cai and Yen Bai.
The largest rare earth deposit is located in Bac Nam Xe village, in Lai Chau, near the border with China. and other smaller ones are scattered along the coastal area from Quang Ninh to Vung Tau.
Total global reserves of rare earth are estimated at 99 million tons, of which China is the biggest owner with 27 million tons, accounting for 30.6%, followed by the US with 13 million tons, Australia with 5.2 million tons and India with 1.1 million tons.
In terms of mining output, China is accounting for 95% of the total global production, or 120,000 tons of rare earth exploited annually, according to 2015 data.
Rare earth is an important material in the manufacturing of electronic components, phones, national defense weapons, among others.
According to former head of Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources Nguyen Xuan Khien, China is dominant in world rare earth mining and willing to use them to exert pressure on other countries including the US and Japan.
Some nine years ago, China had threatened to suspend exports of rare earth to Japan, as a result, some Japanese scientists traveled to Vietnam to explore and evaluate rare earth deposits. However, not any results have been published until now.
