Vietnam Iron Mining
Recently, the Vietnam Mineral Resources and Metallurgy JSC (MIREX) has begun the construction of a soft iron and steel ingot plant in the Cao Bang province of Vietnam. The said project is estimated to cost $21.6 million US dollars. This plant would be the first steel ingot production site that would employ anthracite coals instead of coke coal. Such move to anthracite coal was said to lower production costs and is environmentally friendly. Furthermore, this plant, scaling around 7 hectares, will be equipped with the most advanced technologies from in China, Japan and Europe. It is targeted to commence its operations by June 2008. The plant is expected to produce 200,000 tonnes of soft iron and steel ingot yearly in order to meet international standard.
Iron is very abundant. As an element, it ranks tenth believed to be rank tenth in the most abundant element in the universe. As an element found in the Earth’s crust, iron ranks fourth. As a metal, iron ranks second with aluminum in the lead. Since it is not a free element, iron is extracted from iron ore. To extract elemental iron, impurities are removed through the process of chemical reduction. It is the main component of steel and is a factor in the production of alloys and other solid solutions of various metals and nonmetals. A type of measuring microscope may be used in order to study the melting and solidification behavior of iron metals. Furthermore, a type of measuring microscope allows the observation of under-cooling and the calculation of initial heat-transfer rates upon contact. The grades of the measuring microscope enable the measurement of various specimens placed for observation. Aside from that, a measuring microscope may come in handy for making tiny iron based products. Another use for a measuring microscope in the iron mining industry is in the quantification of steel hardness.
Going back to the article, MIREX has stated that the company will further be modernized after the successful production of soft iron and steel ingot. Such modernization would become the platform for reproduction of laminated and high quality steel.
Aside from the Cao Bang plant, MIREX is also looking into the development of similar plants in other areas that are known to have rich iron ore deposits. Such development is a measure to meet the country’s domestic demand. Iron sources of Vietnam are the provinces of Lao Cai, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang, Lang Son, Ha Giang, Cao Bang, and Bac Kan.
In as much as the country is rich in iron ore, Vietnam is still currently importing around fifty percent of such steel ingots because of financial and technological limitations. The current annual exploitation capacity of iron ore for the country is only one million tonnes. With the development of new plants, Vietnam hopes to increase exploitation and processing capacity to nine million tonnes by the year 2010. The rationale behind the efforts of Vietnam to boost steel production is because of the estimated ten million tones demand for steel by 2010.
Aside from the increase of production, the Cao Bang project shall create jobs for the local people and is expected to contribute an income $625,000 US dollars for Vietnam.
