Natural minerals will be protected, managed, exploited, and used in areasonable, economical, and efficient manner to serve the country’sshort and long-term socio-economic sustainable development, nationaldefence and security, and environmental protection.

It was statedin the mineral strategy mapped out for the period from now to 2020 witha vision toward 2030, which was approved by the Prime Minister.

Accordingly,production of all small-sized mineral processing facilities andout-of-date technologies causing environmental pollution need to behalted by 2020, said Head of the Heavy Industry Department under theMinistry of Industry and Trade Nguyen Manh Quan.

Exploitation needs to combine with processing and hi-tech processing industrial zones must be developed, Quan said.

He proposed boosting international cooperation to gain cutting-edgedtechnologies in the surveying, exploration, exploitation and processingof minerals and encouraging the sector’s external partnerships toprocess the minerals that are hugely needed by the country.

Dr.Nguyen Van Thuan, Head of the General Department of Geology andMinerals, said over 5,000 mining and mineral sites have been identifiednationwide to date.

Several minerals were estimated to hold huge reserves, such as oil and gas coal, titanium, bauxite, and rare earth, Thuan said.

Over the past years, the mining sector has significantly contributed tothe country’s industrial development and economic growth.

Petroleum and coal are noted for earning hard currencies for the country, bringing home about 10 billion USD in 2012 alone.-VNA