Viet Nam to develop national strategy on rare earth minerals

On December 1, at the National Assembly’s plenary discussion session, Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang, on behalf of the drafting body, expressed his gratitude to the National Assembly deputies for their attention, support, and their dedicated and responsible contributions to the draft laws submitted at this session.

According to the drafting agency, many comments were highly practical and will be carefully considered and incorporated to improve the draft before it is submitted to the National Assembly for review and adoption, especially those related to the consistency of the legal system, transitional provisions, and detailed guiding documents.

The Minister noted that during group discussions and plenary debates, many issues raised by deputies could be updated directly in the bill; other matters will continue to be consolidated during the drafting of subordinate legal documents.

Clarifying regulation in two draft laws

Several deputies proposed adding provisions to address existing obstacles beyond those already identified. Regarding this issue, Minister Tran Duc Thang stated:

For the draft Law on Geology and Minerals, the law was newly adopted in 2024 and is expected to take effect on July 1, 2025. This amendment focuses primarily on urgent shortcomings affecting national key programs and projects, as well as strategies for the management, exploitation, and use of rare earth resources.

Other obstacles will continue to be reviewed and studied based on the deputies’ feedback. Minister Tran Duc Thang emphasized that many of the comments were entirely valid and should be incorporated, even though the law has not yet taken effect.

Clarifying various issues of concern raised by lawmakers, the Minister noted that discussions centered on solutions to accelerate the exploitation progress of Groups 3 and 4 construction materials for national key projects, while still ensuring environmental protection and preventing policy abuse.

Regarding the licensing mechanism for mineral extraction serving public works and priority projects, some opinions suggested carefully considering the scope of beneficiaries covered by the special mechanism and the authority responsible for licensing, to avoid excessive expansion.

On behalf of the drafting agency, Minister Tran Duc Thang explained that the special provisions apply only to activities involving expansion or lowering of mine floors in operating mines, which do not require supplementary planning. New mines must still comply with planning requirements. Licensing for Groups 3 and 4 materials will not be based on radioactive geological management plans but must still meet requirements related to national defense, security, the environment, and infrastructure.

Organizations and individuals engaged in extraction must also conduct exploration and quality assessment of mineral resources, ensure technical safety, and carry out statistical reporting and inventory of output to minimize risks and avoid resource waste.

A national strategy on rare earths will be developed

The management of rare earths was a focal point of discussion, with many deputies requesting clarification on strategies for managing this special resource.

According to the Minister, Vietnam possesses immense rare-earth potential, with reserves ranking second or third in the world, distributed across 21 provinces and cities. The Ministry has conducted comprehensive baseline surveys of rare earth areas, maintained strict oversight, and is developing a National Strategy on Rare Earth Minerals, which is expected to be issued in early 2026.

After completing the delineation of rare earth zones, the key task will be to ensure efficient exploitation, develop a deep-processing value chain, and limit exports of raw materials to the greatest extent.

The draft law now includes a separate chapter dedicated to rare earths, along with additional regulations and principles to allow the Government to elaborate details through subordinate legal documents.

Criteria for designating areas exempt from mining rights auctions

Many deputies offered comments on the criteria for identifying areas where mineral exploitation rights would not be subject to auction. In this regard, the draft law has developed criteria aimed at ensuring a stable supply of raw materials for important and urgent projects, and supporting large-scale deep-processing projects that have broad socio-economic impacts.

Minister Tran Duc Thang provided an example: for cement plants, investors must incur substantial costs to build factories, so putting their input material mines up for auction would be impractical. Therefore, the law authorizes the Government to specify these criteria in detail, with inter-agency coordination among the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Public Security, and local authorities. Assessment factors include market demand, resource-use efficiency, investor capacity, environmental impacts, local livelihoods, and the potential for forming deep-processing value chains.

The drafting agency will fully incorporate all comments calling for strict oversight to prevent resource loss.

We will seriously consider all deputies’ opinions to finalize the dossier for submission to the National Assembly, Minister Tran Duc Thang emphasized.