Japan Helps Vietnam Assess Environmental Impacts of Rare Earth Projects

Vietnam’s Ministry Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) held on Feb 28 a conference to discuss measures to improve the evaluation of the environmental impacts of rare earth mining projects. During the event, experts from the Japanese agency gave suggestions to a draft on giving technical directions to making an environmental impact report on rare earth exploitation and processing activities. According to participants, the draft does not mention the overall impacts of these projects as well as which technologies are proper. “JICA is willing to assist Vietnam in assessing the environmental impacts for rare earth projects in the future,” said a representative from the Japanese agency. Rare earth is among the precious minerals and is available in only a few countries in the world. It is used in many hi-tech industries in a variety of areas including food, health care, electronics, automobiles, batteries, magnets, radar and missiles. Vietnam now ranks fourth in the world in terms of rare earth reserves, making it an attractive destination for countries, including South Korea and Japan, seeking to ease reliance on China in this field. Vietnam has estimated reserves of 21 million tons of rare earths out of 99 million tones all over the world. The country, has however, not effectively tapped the resources due to backward technology. Environmental impacts and radioactive leaks are among the country’s major concerns. (Thoi Bao Kinh Te – Economic Times Mar 1 p3)