Abundant resources

According to the report of the Department of Industry and Trade, Lao Cai currently has more than 130 mines and mine sites, with more than 30 different types of minerals discovered, including many mines with large reserves and high value such as apatite mines, is the largest mine in Southeast Asia, with reserves of about 2.1 billion tons of ore; Quy Xa iron mine is the second largest iron mine in the country with a reserve of 112 million tons of ore; Sin Quyen copper mine is the largest copper mine in the country, with a reserve of 52 million tons of ore (about 550,000 tons of metal copper); Ta Phoi copper mine has an estimated reserve of about 35 million tons of ore; granite mines have reserves of about 12 million tons of ore; kaolin, feldspar... mines have reserves of about 20 million tons, which are convenient local sources of raw materials for mining, mineral processing, chemical and fertilizer industries.

Copper Refining Factory No. 2 in Ban Qua commune, Bat Xat district.

In recent years, efficient mining and mineral processing activities have made an important contribution to improving the value of industrial production in particular and the economic growth of the province in general. The province has more than 7,000 industrial and handicraft production establishments. As for enterprises, the province has 189 industrial enterprises, most concentrated in the mining and mineral processing industry (60 enterprises, accounting for nearly 31.7%). Mineral processing industry is the spearhead that always plays the leading role and creates the greatest value.

Mineral processing, metallurgy, fertilizer and chemical factories are mostly concentrated, occupying the entire industrial land area in Tang Loong Industrial Park. Over the past 10 years, the industrial production value of Tang Loong Industrial Park has grown by an average of 15% per year. Thanks to deep processing, industrial production value is increasing, greatly contributing to the economic restructuring of the province in the direction of increasing the proportion of industry.

In 2021, despite many difficulties due to the impact of the pandemic, the industrial production value still reached more than 41,000 billion VND, equal to 102% of the plan delivered at the beginning of the year, up 11.22% compared to 2020. In which, the production value of the processing and manufacturing industry reached VND 30,034 billion, equaling 105.31% of the plan, an increase of 13% compared to 2020. In particular, yellow phosphorus producers achieved the highest growth rate ever thanks to a favorable consumption market and stable selling prices at high levels.

Concentrate on deep processing of minerals

Minerals are non-renewable resources, so the province's consistent stance is to focus on deep processing. With the drastic direction of the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People's Committee, in the period 2011 - 2015, Lao Cai has put 14 key industrial projects into operation and exploitation, typically such as: Yellow Phosphorus Factory of Vietnam Yellow Phosphorus Co., Ltd. has a capacity of 18,000 tons/year; Lao Cai Iron and Steel Factory, phase 1 capacity is 500,000 tons/year; The chemical fertilizer production complex of Duc Giang Detergent and Chemical Joint Stock Corporation includes the following projects: Producing rich phosphate fertilizer (TSP) with a capacity of 100,000 tons/year, DCP animal feed additive with a capacity of 50,000 tons/year, producing extracted phosphoric acid, with a capacity of 100,000 tons/year; DAP Factory No. 2 with a capacity of 330,000 tons/year. It can be said that the strong industrial development creates a breakthrough in the economic development of the province.

Underground mining at Sin Quyen Lao Cai copper mining branch

Resolution of the 16th Provincial Party Congress identifies continuing to maintain industrial development, ensuring that it is an important pillar for development. In which, focus on mineral deep processing industry, focus on applying modern and advanced technologies to improve quality, competitiveness, and environmental protection. In order to concretize the province's orientation on industrial development, right from the beginning of the term, many mineral deep processing projects have been put into operation or started new construction. Typically, the project to expand and increase the capacity of Lao Cai Copper Refining Factory in Ban Qua commune (Bat Xat) with a capacity of 20 thousand tons of cathode copper/year, investment capital of VND 3,900 billion, the project uses advanced and synchronous copper smelting technology, ensuring high environmental requirements. Previously, with old technology, only ores with copper content of 1% or more could be selected, the recovery rate was more than 80%. Up to now, thanks to new technology, it is possible to select ore with copper content of 0.8% or more, the recovery rate is 92% to 97%. Also, last March, in Ban Qua commune, a large Korean corporation started construction of a high-tech electric wire and cable factory with a total investment of 1,900 billion VND. This is a copper metal deep processing project, using the most modern and high technology in Southeast Asia in terms of rolling and pulling copper cables.

Determining industry is a breakthrough, so the province always focuses on mobilizing and using all resources to increase investment in industrial development. Industrial zones and clusters prioritize resources to improve infrastructure, monitoring and environmental treatment systems. Many large projects and factories for deep processing of apatite, iron, copper, and graphite minerals have come into operation, industrial production has maintained a high growth rate, making important contributions to the economic development of the province, step by step defining its center ofmetallurgy, chemicals and fertilizers of the region and the whole country. The internal structure of the industry develops in the direction of gradually increasing the proportion of the processing and manufacturing industry, and gradually reducing the proportion of the mining industry.

In the coming period, the province will focus on exploiting and processing minerals with advanced technology in the direction of economical and efficient use of natural resources, protecting the ecological environment, with strict control of state management agencies; focus on developing metallurgical industry, bringing metal minerals exploited in the area into deep processing; create favorable conditions and promote investment attraction in metal, mechanical and electronic production projects, especially large projects. Along with that, effectively exploiting the capacity of existing production plants, creating many products that are in demand in domestic and foreign markets such as high-quality fertilizers (DAP), phosphorus-rich fertilizers, acids and phosphate salts, additives of all kinds, etc.