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Alcan Vietnam, a subsidiary
of the world' second largest
aluminum producer Alcan
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Vietnam, it seems, is the new frontier. Rich in largely untapped natural resources and able to benefit from a low cost labor force, Vietnam has enjoyed 10-percent growth rates (although it has also suffered 11 percent inflation rates last year). The country has never been a major metals producer, but that could be about to change. Blessed with abundant bauxite, estimated in a Reuters
article at between 5.6 billion tons and 8.3 billion tons, Vietnam could become the third-largest alumina producer in the world after Guinea and Australia. Not satisfied with being just a raw materials producer, the country has awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for two alumina projects in the central highlands to Chalieco, a subsidiary of state-owned Chinese Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco). Both plants are expected to produce some 600,000 tons per year when operational, which initially will mostly go for export, but which the government hopes will form the basis for a domestic aluminum industry in the future.
Read Full : Vietnam: Potential to Be a Major Aluminum Producer
