'Closing eyes' to license rare earth project, former General Director receives 500 million VND birthday gift

The Supreme People’s Procuracy has just issued an indictment against 27 defendants in the case of illegal rare earth mining in Yen Bai related to Thai Duong Group Joint Stock Company, of which Dao Van Huan is the Chairman of the Board of Directors. In this case, a number of state officials intentionally violated the principles, “blindly” granting rare earth mining licenses to Thai Duong Company.

According to the indictment, on July 1, 2011, when the 2010 Mineral Law came into effect, the Government Office issued a document requesting a temporary suspension of mineral exploitation licenses nationwide until further instructions were issued. In January 2012, the Prime Minister issued a Directive on strengthening management of mineral exploration, exploitation, processing, use and export activities.

At the end of 2012, the Government Office continued to send an official dispatch to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the People's Committee of Yen Bai province to notify the Prime Minister's opinion with the following content:

“Agree in principle to exploit and process rare earth ores in Van Yen, Yen Bai with the following conditions: Rare earth ores must be deeply processed, raw ores must not be exported and obligations must be fulfilled according to the provisions of the law on minerals; mining rights must not be transferred to foreign organizations or individuals… The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment receives the dossier and grants a license to exploit rare earth ores in the above area to Thai Duong Joint Stock Company according to current regulations”.

After receiving the above document, Mr. Nguyen Linh Ngoc (then Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment) directed to transfer the document to the General Department of Geology and Minerals to complete the licensing dossier.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thuan (at that time, Director General of the General Department of Geology and Minerals) and two other officials were assigned to appraise the application for a license to exploit rare earth ores of Thai Duong Company. The appraisal procedure for granting the license was carried out in accordance with the provisions of the 2010 Law on Minerals and related regulations.

The indictment shows that the rare earth mining and processing project of Thai Duong Company has changed in both scale and nature, not just the mining and ore selection project as when applying for a license in 2011.

Specifically, in addition to the 3 ore mining and selection projects as when applying for a license in 2011, the project also includes 3 inseparable projects: Ore mining and selection project; Yen Bai hydrometallurgical plant project and Hai Phong extraction plant project.

However, the license application of Thai Duong Company only has the investment certificate for the mining and ore selection project issued by the People's Committee of Yen Bai province and has expired. The application does not have the investment certificate for the Yen Bai hydrometallurgical plant and Hai Phong extraction plant projects.

During the appraisal process, Mr. Thuan used the old appraisal results from 2011 (when Thai Duong Company first submitted the application) without re-appraising the application according to the provisions of the 2010 Mineral Law.

Mr. Thuan and other officers agreed on the work resolution form; in which they commented that the application for a mining license of Thai Duong Company met the conditions for being granted a license.

On that basis, Mr. Nguyen Linh Ngoc (at that time Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment) signed and granted a mineral exploitation license to Thai Duong Company.

After the license was granted, on the occasion of Mr. Nguyen Van Thuan's birthday, Mr. Doan Van Huan came to meet and thank the former General Director for 500 million VND. The indictment shows that Mr. Thuan used the above money for personal matters.

According to the indictment, although he was granted a mining license, due to insufficient financial capacity, Mr. Huan was unable to build the Yen Bai hydrometallurgical plant and the Hai Phong extraction plant to deeply process rare earth as planned.

From 2019 to 2023, Mr. Huan directed the illegal exploitation and consumption of rare earth and iron ore with a total value of more than 736 billion VND.