Geology and mineral sector: Pillar for sustainable development

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Quy Kien reflected on the sector’s 80-year journey and its future directions with VAN News.

The geology and mineral sector has accompanied the country for 80 years in building and defending the nation. How does the Deputy Minister assess the sector’s role, its notable contributions, and its traditional values over this period?

Over eight decades of formation and development, intertwined with the nation’s historical milestones, Viet Nam’s geology and mineral sector has consistently affirmed its role as a pioneering field. It has carried out the mission of basic geological surveys, exploring and evaluating numerous strategic and critical mineral resources to serve national construction and defense.

From the early days of nation-building, amidst immense challenges, generations of geologists endured hardships and sacrifices, leaving their mark across the country fulfilling their mission while affirming national sovereignty. This journey laid the foundation for the national geological and mineral database, an invaluable original data set serving multiple objectives: from socio-economic development planning and infrastructure construction, such as transportation and irrigation, to ensuring national security and defense, and particularly forming the basis for the mining industry. Today, we can take pride in the sector’s achievements.

These achievements include completing geological mapping and mineral surveys at a 1:50,000 scale over nearly 80% of the country’s land area; exploring, surveying, and determining reserves and resources of more than 60 mineral types with thousands of mines and ore sites. Many of these are strategic and critical minerals, such as bauxite, titanium, and rare earths; energy minerals like coal and uranium; base metals such as copper and gold; as well as abundant construction materials, which have been and will continue to be key endogenous resources for the country’s industrialization and modernization.

Looking back over 80 years, the sector’s greatest legacy is not just in numbers but in the tradition forged across generations: "Pioneering the way - Enduring hardship without retreat - Responsibility to the Nation and the People." This embodies scientific spirit, dedication, patriotism, and absolute integrity, values that continue to be preserved for future generations.

Proactively surveying strategic minerals - Investing in sustainable development

Strategic and deep-seated minerals are essential for national security and future economic development. The mission of the geology and mineral sector is to locate, evaluate, and sustainably exploit these resources. According to the Deputy Minister, what strategies are needed to carry out basic geological surveys and study and assess these critical minerals?

We are living in a world entering the energy transition and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The demand for strategic minerals such as rare earths, lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and copper, is surging and becoming a key factor in energy security and technological security for every nation.

For Viet Nam, this presents both a significant challenge and a great opportunity. The country has considerable potential in minerals such as rare earths, bauxite, and titanium. Therefore, surveying and assessing strategic minerals is urgent and a top priority, forming the basis for planning the semiconductor and renewable energy industries.

Carrying out geological and mineral surveys requires coordination among three key elements: national strategy, legal framework, and implementation capacity.

Resolution No. 10-NQ/TW on the strategic orientation for geology, minerals, and the mining industry through 2030, with a vision to 2045, emphasizes that basic surveys are a proactive task and a state investment for development. Based on this, the Law institutionalizes and provides a solid legal framework, designating basic geological and mineral surveys as essential public services invested in and organized by the State. 

To implement these tasks, we need a capable organizational structure. The government is actively directing to invest in modern equipment for complex, high-tech surveys of deep-seated minerals; establishing a centralized national geological data center that applies digital technology, AI, and 3D modeling to become the brain for analyzing and forecasting the sector’s resources.

To carry out this task, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is focusing on concentrating budget resources. The Viet Nam Geological and Mineral Resources Department is urgently implementing key government projects, such as a comprehensive rare earth survey, geological mapping and mineral assessment in the Northwest and South Central regions, and particularly strategic mineral evaluations for energy security. Mobilizing social investment through socialization mechanisms is to accelerate the pace of mineral surveys and assessments.

Toward a high-tech, sustainable economic sector

Minerals are non-renewable resources, so the policy shift from resource extraction to “integrated geological resource governance” supporting planning, green transition, and national resource security needs to be effectively implemented, Deputy Minister?

Exactly. Governance covers the entire lifecycle of resources from being in the ground (planning, surveying), to use (licensing, extraction, processing), and even post-extraction (mine closure, environmental rehabilitation). To realize this approach, the 2024 Geology and Minerals Law lays the foundation through four strategic solution groups.

First, establishing planning as the primary governance tool. The law strictly regulates the preparation, appraisal, and approval of national and provincial mineral plans, integrated and synchronized with land use plans, marine spatial planning, and environmental protection plans. This acts as a “lock” at the entry stage, preventing over-licensing and conflicts of interest.

Second, using economic and financial tools to regulate extraction activities. The law prioritizes economic mechanisms to guide enterprises toward sustainable development. Auctioning mining rights is applied to most mines, ensuring transparency and increasing state revenue; clean technology and deep-processing projects are encouraged. Environmental restoration deposit mechanisms are tightened, calculating full costs upfront, ending the practice where “profits go to private operators, while consequences fall on the state and society.”

Third, strengthening green criteria across the entire value chain. The 2024 Law promotes the application of circular economy and green economy models in mineral extraction and processing activities.

Fourth, comprehensive digitization and decentralized supervision. Geological databases will be digitized and integrated with land and environmental data. All information on resources, reserves, extraction volumes, and environmental obligations will be made public.

How will the geology and mineral sector manage resources under this framework, Deputy Minister?

By 2045, the geology and mineral sector will no longer be an industry focused on extracting “brown” or raw resources but will become a provider of “green materials” and “high-tech materials” for the economy. Accordingly, governance must transform into “smart, transparent, internationally integrated management centered on data, technology, and human resources”, based on four pillars:

First, data-driven governance (Big Data) in real time: The national digital geological resource management system will be fully developed. This is not merely a storage system but a real-time central system from surveys, exploration, to extraction.

Second, AI, IoT, and 3D simulations will be applied to detect deep-seated minerals. Smart Mining operations will deploy robots and automated systems for high-risk or hazardous processes, optimizing efficiency and minimizing environmental impact.

Third, multi-disciplinary human resource development: The 2045 vision cannot be realized with traditional geologists alone. A new generation of experts is needed: digital geologists skilled in data analysis; resource economists capable of pricing resources and market risks; legal specialists versed in mining law, international regulations, and ESG standards.

Fourth, deep integration into global supply chains: Viet Nam must become a key link in the global strategic mineral supply chain, particularly in high-value segments. The brand "Viet Nam Minerals -  Responsible and Sustainable" will be built, where every ton of Vietnamese minerals exported (in processed form) is green-certified, meeting the highest international environmental and social standards.

Message to geological staff and scientists

"On this occasion, on behalf of the MAE’s leadership, I extend my deepest gratitude to generations of Vietnamese geological staff, engineers, and scientists who have dedicated themselves for the Earth and the nation. Previous generations successfully fulfilled the mission of pioneering the way under extreme hardship.

Today, the country enters a new era with new demands. The greatest challenges for the geology sector are no longer harsh working conditions but knowledge, vision, and technology.

I hope the younger generation will continue to keep the passion for the Earth alive carried by our predecessors. But you must become global geologists: mastering digital technologies, continuously enhancing your knowledge, and always placing responsibility for the environment and the nation’s future above all else.

As our beloved President Ho Chi Minh once advised: Geology is the eyes and ears of the nation; only by understanding the Earth can we master nature and serve humanity."

Thank you very much, Deputy Minister!