Vietnam's government is planning to auction new mining concessions for rare earths later this year, and officials from at least one company, Vietnam Rare Earth JSC , that had been due to bid were among those arrested.
VTRE has partnered with Australian mining companies Australian Strategic Materials and Blackstone Minerals LTD, which were not named in the Vietnamese authorities' investigation. Neither Blackstone or ASM responded to a request for comment on whether their agreements with VTRE would be affected by the arrest of its chairman.
Last month, Reuters reported details of the Southeast Asian nation's ambitious plans to boost its rare earth industry, raising annual output to 60,000 tons of rare earths oxides by the end of this decade from 4,300 tons in 2022.The chairman of Thai Duong Group, Doan Van Huan, was also arrested, accused of making 632 billion dong from illegal sales of ore extracted from the mine his company operated in Yen Bai province.