HANOI, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's titanium reserves could amount to over 650 million tons, with about 1.2 million tons produced annually, according to the Vietnam Titanium Association ( VTA).
Currently 89 mines are operating across the country by the association's 44 members, who earned 85 million U.S. dollars from titanium exports in the first six months of this year and contributed about 14.1 million dollars to the State budget, the association reported Monday.
Under VTA's target, by 2020 its member will focus on investing in processing and large-scale projects, and push closer cooperation by using one company's products as the inputs for another.
According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, central Binh Thuan province has the largest titanium reserves of about 599 million tons, accounting for 92 percent of Vietnam's total titanium reserves, of which its Bac Binh district has titanium reserves of 142 million tons.
The provincial Department of Industry and Trade reported that 17 titanium processing projects are waiting to be operated at Song Binh industrial park, including large projects including the 350 million U.S. dollars-worth project by the Russian Geopromining Group, the 650 million U.S. dollars project by the Vietnamese Binh Minh Ex-Import company, and the 620 million U.S. dollars project by the Hanoi Technology company.
Vietnam's titanium reserves account for about 5 percent of the world's total titanium reserves, just behind Canada, the United States, Norway, India and Australia, according to VTA.