Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has asked the Vietnam Coal andMineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) and the management board of the LamDong bauxite-alumina complex to increase measures to ensure the safeoperation of the alumina plant.

The Deputy PM madethe request during his February 11 working visit to the complex, alsocalled the Rai Tan bauxite project, in the Central Highlands provinceof Lam Dong on the occasion of the Lunar New Year 2014.

He stressed the necessity of safety measures for the areas of redsludge and camera supervision to promptly discover problems during theoperation.

Hai also required the project managementboard to enhance the monitoring of environmental solutions, prepareplans for red mud treatment and urgently fix shortcomings and weaknessesof the operation system, thus ensuring a safe environment for localpeople.

According to the board, the project’s realisedinvestment reached 14.9 trillion VND (700 million USD), accounting for98 percent of the total initial investment.

Theproject has so far produced 265,000 tonnes of alumina and 436,000 tonnesof hydrate. Of which, it sold 236,000 tonnes of alumina to domestic andinternational markets, including 160,000 tonnes shipped to Switzerland,the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong (China) last year.

Vinacomin has also signed long-term contracts with Japan ’s Marubenicompany and China ’s Yunnan Aluminium company to export 300,000tonnes and 150,000 tonnes of alumina respectively per year from the TanRai plant.

Since the beginning of 2014, thecomplex has exported more than 60,000 tonnes of alumina to Singaporeanand Hong Kong partners.

It expects to produce 540,000 tonnes of alumina and over 800,000 tonnes of hydrate this year.-VNA