Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment approves reserves of 3 mineral mines in Hoa Binh and Son La

*Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Quy Kien speaks at the meeting*

Reporting on the results of the exploration of claystone for cement raw materials in Dong Nhat village and Dong Hai village, Dong Tam commune, Lac Thuy district, Hoa Binh province, Mr. Hoang Quang Nam, Deputy Director of the Environmental Resources and Mining Investment Consulting Joint Stock Company, said: The results of the exploration work have clarified the geological characteristics of the formations present in the exploration area; clarified the existence and distribution characteristics of the claystone raw material body as well as the quality characteristics of each layer of strongly and moderately weathered products.

At the same time, research and evaluate the possibility of using clay in the exploration areas as raw materials for cement production. The results show that the quality of clay in the exploration areas meets the requirements for use as raw materials for cement production and satisfies the standard TCVN 6071 - 2013 - raw materials for Portland cement production - clay - technical requirements.

*Mr. Lon Taranaki - General Director of Ban Phuc Nickel Mine Company Limited (black shirt) speaking at the meeting*

Regarding the results of the exploration of laterite as a cement additive in Vu Binh commune, Lac Son district, Hoa Binh province, Mr. Hoang Quang Nam said: The exploration results report has clarified the geological characteristics of the mine, assessed the hydrogeological - engineering geological conditions (DCT-DCT) affecting the mining process, assessed the quality and reserves of laterite ore, and recommended issues that need attention during the mining process.

Reporting on the results of nickel-copper ore exploration in Ta Khoa, Hong Ngai areas, belonging to Muong Khoa, Ta Khoa, Hong Ngai, Song Pe communes, Bac Yen district and Ta Hoc area, Ta Hoc commune, Mai Son district, Son La province, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hai of Ban Phuc Nickel Mine Company Limited said: The exploration work has completed geological survey at a scale of 1:25,000 for 49.7 km2; geological mapping at a scale of 1:2000 for 11 sub-areas with a volume of 17.27 km2; engineering geological and hydrogeological survey for 4 sub-areas: Ban Phuc, Ban Khoa, Ban Chang. Suoi Dan; geophysical survey of the transfer field for sub-areas: Ban Chang, Suoi Chanh, Suoi Phang; excavation, exposed trace of 3,752.55 m3; exploratory drilling of 93,873m / 517 boreholes; Collected and analyzed 16,788 core samples, 828 trench samples; collected and tested technology for 5 large samples; collected and analyzed 131 thin-section petrographic samples and 115 mineral facies samples, 28 silicate samples, 18 radioactive samples, 65 rock mechanics samples, 35 soil mechanics samples, 31 water chemistry samples, 1 toxic trace element sample, 1 microbiological sample.

The exploration results have determined the basic characteristics of the mine's geological structure, morphology, lying conditions, ore body structure, thickness variation, ore quality according to the direction and embedment of the ore bodies.

*Mr. Hoang Quang Nam, Deputy Director of Environmental Resources and Mining Investment Consulting Joint Stock Company reported at the meeting.*

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hai emphasized: "Ban Phuc Nickel Mine Company Limited with the strategy of exploiting and deeply processing nickel sulfide ore to serve the industry of manufacturing precursors for energy batteries in Son La, so finding more sources of nickel sulfide ore is an urgent issue."

At the meeting, the Office of the National Mineral Reserves Assessment Council announced the results of the inspection and appraisal of the nickel-copper ore exploration report. Mr. Do Van Dinh of the Council Office said that the report had compiled exploration documents and assessed the scale and quality of nickel-copper ore within the licensed exploration area. He requested the National Mineral Reserves Assessment Council to consider and approve the mineral reserves calculated in the report.

*Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hai of Ban Phuc Nickel Mine Company Limited reported at the meeting.*

Concluding the meeting, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Quy Kien assessed that the consulting units and investors had prepared a systematic report. At the same time, the Deputy Minister requested the units to accept the opinions of the Council members, including many technical opinions.

The Deputy Minister and the council members approved the reserves of clay for cement raw materials in Dong Nhat and Dong Hai villages, Dong Tam commune, Lac Thuy district, Hoa Binh province according to the exploration documents as follows: Natural state: level 121 +122 is 14.203 million tons, reaching 146%; dry state: level 121 +122 is 11.423 million tons. In addition, the volume of non-raw material clamping layer has been determined to be 1.873 million m3.

Regarding the report on the results of the exploration of laterite as a cement additive in Vu Binh commune, Lac Son district, Hoa Binh province, the Council approved the reserves of laterite as a cement additive in the exploration area as 4.684 million tons in natural state, equivalent to 3.731 million tons in dry state, of which the level 121 reserves are 1.189 million tons in natural state, equivalent to 947 thousand tons in dry state. Level 121 reserves account for about 25% of the total reserves of the entire mine.

Regarding the nickel-copper ore exploration report of Ban Phuc Nickel Mine Company Limited, the Council approved the total reserves of both disseminated sulfide and dense sulfide level 122 as more than 45.4 million tons of ore containing 224,314 tons of Ni metal, 33,662 tons of Cu metal and 6,215 tons of Co metal.

The Council also noted that level 222 resources include nearly 5.59 million tons of ore containing 33,975 tons of Ni metal, 6,069 tons of Cu metal and 832 tons of Co metal; level 333 resources include nearly 3 million tons of ore, containing 19,844 tons of Ni metal, 7,249 tons of Cu metal and 598 tons of Co metal.

At the meeting, Mr. Lon Taranaki - General Director of Ban Phuc Nickel Mine Co., Ltd. - the enterprise managing and operating Ban Phuc Nickel Mine in Son La province said: Ban Phuc Nickel Mine Co., Ltd. has strictly implemented the content of the Mineral Exploration License and related Official Dispatches of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The exploration work has been carried out systematically, applying advanced exploration technologies in geophysics, geochemistry, network drilling to ensure control of the ore body in three-dimensional space, sample analysis at prestigious international centers of the ALS Metallurgy analysis room in Perth, Australia and according to the highest standards in the world.

Receiving the opinions of Deputy Minister Tran Quy Kien and Council members, Mr. Lon Taranaki said that after the exploration results report is approved, the Company will submit an application for a new Mineral Exploration License.

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