Hanoi greenlights 18-month pilot to produce rare earth oxides with over 95% purity

Truong Viet Dung, vice chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee, has signed a decision allowing the Mining Technology and Construction Consultancy JSC to conduct the pilot project in Hanoi.

Under Decision No. 4657/QD-UBND, the pilot will test a process for producing total rare earth oxides with a purity exceeding 95 percent from rare earth ore sourced in Vietnam.

The pilot will run for 18 months from the date the decision was signed.

The processing line will have a designed capacity of 100 kilograms of run-of-mine ore per hour, with a maximum of 100 metric tons of ore to be used during the pilot.

The ore will come from the Dong Pao mine in Lai Chau Province.

The technology, covered by Vietnamese Patent No. 33663, involves two main stages: flotation to enrich the ore into concentrate and hydrometallurgical processing to produce total rare earth oxides.

The pilot is intended to assess the stability and efficiency of the technology at a semi-industrial scale and its potential for expansion to industrial production.

Its results will also provide a basis for developing technical standards, regulations, economic and technical norms, and management rules for deep processing of rare earths.

Water recycling, by-product recovery

The technology uses a water-recycling process during hydrometallurgical treatment and is designed to recover valuable products and by-products, including barite, fluorite and sodium hexafluorosilicate (Na₂SiF₆).

The process is expected to improve resource use and reduce waste generation.

The entire pilot operation will be monitored by a camera system and 33 key performance indicators covering technical performance, environmental protection and radiation safety.

The Hanoi Department of Science and Technology has been tasked with coordinating with relevant agencies to guide, supervise, inspect and evaluate the pilot, and handle issues arising during the process within its authority.