Decision No. 89/2008/QĐ-TTg Approving the Coal Industry Development Strategy to 2015, with orientations to 2025

Pursuant to …;

Approving the Strategy for the Development of Vietnam's Coal Industry until 2015, with orientations until 2025

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PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Considering the proposal of the Minister of Industry and Trade.

DECISION:

Clause 4 of Article 6Approve the Strategy for the Development of Vietnam's Coal Industry until 2015, with orientations until 2025, including the following main contents:

1. Development Orientation

a. Developing the coal industry based on efficient and economical exploitation, processing, and utilization of domestic coal resources; contributing positively to ensuring national energy security and meeting the maximum demand for coal serving the country’s socio-economic development; ensuring reasonable export and import activities through management by plans and other regulatory measures appropriate to the market mechanism under state control and Vietnam’s international commitments.

b. Developing the coal industry sustainably and effectively in a coordinated manner consistent with the overall development of other economic sectors. Fully leveraging internal strength (capital, design and manufacturing capabilities of domestic equipment, etc.) while expanding international cooperation, primarily in research, implementation, and application of advanced technology in exploration, mining, processing, and utilization of coal; adequately investing in environmental protection, occupational safety, resource management, and risk management in coal mining.

c. Vigorously conducting exploration, assessment of coal reserves to prepare a solid resource base for the stable and long-term development of the industry; combining this with actively promoting overseas investment in exploration and mining to supplement domestic coal needs.

d. Promptly forming a competitive coal market integrated with regional and global markets, diversifying investment and business methods within the coal industry.

đ. Developing the coal industry in conjunction with environmental protection and improvement, landscape conservation in coal regions; contributing positively to socio-economic development and consolidation of national defense and security in the region, particularly in the Quang Ninh coal basin; ensuring production safety.

2. Development Strategy

Developing Vietnam's coal industry into a highly competitive industrial sector with advanced technology at all stages of exploration, mining, screening, processing, and utilizing coal, capable of basically meeting domestic demand and ensuring national energy security.

3. Development Goals

a. Regarding coal exploration: striving to complete the exploration and evaluation of resources below -300 meters in the Northeast Basin by 2010, and thoroughly exploring a portion of the Red River Delta Basin's resources; by 2015, completing the exploration and evaluation of the entire Red River Delta Basin's resources. Vigorously increasing verified coal reserves and upgrading existing reserves to ensure sufficient reliable coal reserves for exploitation from 2008 to 2025.

b. Regarding coal mining: the Northeast Basin and other mines (outside the Red River Delta Basin) aim to achieve clean coal production of about 48-50 million tons by 2010; 60-65 million tons by 2015; 70-75 million tons by 2020, and over 80 million tons by 2025. The Red River Delta Basin will invest in testing some projects using traditional underground mining and coal gasification technologies until 2010 to serve future development.

c. Regarding coal screening and processing: striving to develop coal processing towards diversification of products (direct combustion fuel, metallurgical coal, coal gasification, liquid fuels from coal, raw materials for chemical industries, etc.) by 2015.

d. Regarding environmental protection: striving to basically prevent environmental pollution and water contamination by 2010; improve key environmental indicators in sensitive areas (urban areas, residential areas, tourist spots, etc.) by 2015, mines must meet environmental standards; fully comply with environmental standards across the entire mining area by 2020.

đ. Regarding the coal market: shifting the coal industry's operations towards a market mechanism integrated with regional and international markets under state regulation.

4. Development Orientation

a. Regarding domestic coal exploration and mining:

- Continuously promote technological innovation in exploration and mining with a focus on concentration and integration. Increase verified coal reserves and upgrade existing reserves; for offshore coal, fully utilize geological data from oil and gas exploration to assess potential and plan subsequent steps. Licensing and organizing mining must comply with the Minerals Law;

- Implement investment in exploration, mining, processing, and trading according to planning. Cease illegal coal mining, processing, and trading activities;

- Encourage localities with small coal deposits to invest in exploration and mining to meet local needs; pay attention to the exploration and mining of mud coal for fuel and fertilizer.

b. Regarding overseas coal exploration and mining

Strengthen investment in overseas coal exploration and mining; select areas with potential reserves and favorable conditions in neighboring countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Africa, etc., for exploration, mining, and importing coal to Vietnam or building coal-electricity complexes, coal-cement complexes, etc., through self-investment or joint ventures with local and foreign companies in accordance with local regulations.

c. Regarding coal mining technology

- Underground mining:

+ Plan, design new construction, expand existing mines towards concentration, large capacity with modern and integrated technology chains; optimize production to ensure long-term stable mining;

+ Use new support materials such as hydraulic supports instead of wooden or metal supports; combined anchor supports with sprayed concrete, shotcrete, etc., to maintain and protect tunnels under geological conditions permitting.

+ Continue to improve the technological process for mechanized exploitation of inclined seam areas. Study and select appropriate technology to enhance exploitation efficiency for thick seams with inclined and vertical slopes; study the application of reasonable exploitation technology for coal reserves below -300m in the Quang Ninh coal basin and the Red River delta coal basin.

- Exploitation of coal by open-pit method:

+ Develop and expand existing open-pit mines towards increasing the limit stripping ratio; maximize exploitation capacity in accordance with planning for waste disposal, transportation, drainage, and environmental protection;

+ Modernize and update mining equipment along the production line towards using large mobile equipment suitable for the conditions and scale of each mine;

+ Optimize technical parameters of the current exploitation system; study the application of layer-by-layer standing exploitation system, selective exploitation technology, and thin seam exploitation technology; technology for temporary waste dump and internal waste dump;

For any technology, it is necessary to apply the most advanced technical and management solutions to minimize loss rates during exploitation and reduce energy consumption.

d. Regarding screening, washing, and processing of coal

Invest in modernizing technology to enhance the efficiency of existing washing plants; build new modern washing plants to meet domestic market demand as much as possible and stably, increase the value of coal resources usage, and strengthen environmental protection. Promote research and application of coal processing technology, including: coal for metallurgy, coal gasification, coal liquefaction, etc., aiming to diversify coal products.

đ. Regarding infrastructure development serving the coal industry:

- Implement coal transportation routes through regions by linking mines and coal areas with major consumers in the region in line with socio-economic development planning, urban development planning, and infrastructure development in coal mining areas.

- Maximize the capacity of the existing transportation system; strengthen rail, conveyor belt, or combined truck-conveyor belt transportation methods; minimize truck transportation to reduce negative impacts on the surrounding environment;

- Renovate and construct new centralized port clusters with large scale and modern unloading equipment to gradually eliminate small-scale, outdated unloading ports; expand port berths and dredge channels to enhance the unloading capacity of main ports.

e. Regarding safety and environmental protection:

- Strengthen propaganda, education, and dissemination of knowledge about labor safety and environmental protection to all cadres, workers, and staff;

- Utilize domestic and foreign capital sources, international organizations, and other financial support for the environment; cooperate with local authorities to quickly address environmental pollution left by long-term coal exploitation, especially the environment and landscape of Halong Bay;

- Develop long-term plans and implementation schedules with comprehensive solutions to address environmental issues in coal exploitation activities, meeting Vietnam's, regional, and global environmental standards;

- Strictly control the implementation of safety and environmental technical procedures and standards in exploration, exploitation, transportation, processing, and utilization of coal. In the implementation of specific projects, investors must prepare an environmental impact assessment report and submit it for approval according to current regulations;

- Focus on investing in modern high-level automation technology to prevent and eliminate mine accidents. Modernize and militarize professional mine rescue centers, fully equip individual rescue equipment for workers, particularly underground workers, to minimize work-related accidents to the lowest extent possible.

g. Regarding coal usage:

- Encourage investment and international cooperation in researching and applying advanced technologies for coal processing and utilization to enhance coal usage value, save resources, and protect the environment, such as: clean coal technology, coal-water slurry, coal for metallurgy, coal gasification, coal liquefaction, etc.;

- Prioritize developing projects that use coal efficiently and economically; projects using high-quality lump coal, fine coal, and low-quality coal.

h. Regarding coal prices:

Coal prices need to be determined in line with market mechanisms to integrate with regional and global markets; the State regulates coal prices through tax policies and other management tools.

5. Some Implementation Measures of the Strategy

a. Regarding organization:

- Enact, amend, supplement, and complete current legal normative documents to create a favorable legal framework for managing, exploiting, processing, trading, and developing the coal industry under a market mechanism with state management;

- Continue to promote the shareholding reform of coal production companies, moving towards forming a diversified ownership and production and business model market.

b. Regarding finance:

- Strengthen the mobilization of capital from various economic sectors both domestically and internationally through forms of cooperation, joint ventures, associations, shareholding reforms of enterprises, etc.; encourage coal enterprises to raise capital through the stock market (issuing bonds, stocks, international bonds), commercial loans to invest in developing coal industry projects;

- Allocate budget funds and other preferential sources of funding for basic resource investigation and exploration of coal resources and the development plan for the coal industry;

- The State supports part of the funding from the state budget for effective research programs, vocational training schools in the coal industry to develop human resources for the coal industry; support coal enterprises to borrow state credit, ODA funds, funds from the Vietnam Environmental Protection Fund, and mobilize other sources of funding to implement environmental treatment projects.

c. Regarding investment:

- Accelerate the investment progress of coal mine projects through diversifying investment forms to maximize all resources and enhance investment efficiency. Continue to improve policies to attract foreign investment in exploration and exploitation in the Red River delta coal basin and areas below -300 meters in the Quang Ninh coal basin;

- Encourage expanding investment in developing overseas coal exploration and exploitation projects;

d. Human resource development solutions:

- Focus on training and improving the qualifications of the existing cadre and technical workers; provide supplementary training for weak areas; build a strong workforce in terms of both quality and quantity to master advanced technology and equipment;

- Develop specialized coal schools and strive to establish international standard universities. Arrange for seamless connections between different educational levels: university, college, secondary school, and technical workers; develop unified training programs in the coal industry for specialized fields. Select outstanding engineers with potential for overseas training to meet the industry's development needs;

- Enact preferential policies to encourage highly skilled labor to work in the coal industry;

đ. Science and technology solutions:

- Leverage internal strength while expanding international cooperation in scientific research and applying advanced technology in exploration, exploitation, transportation, processing, and utilization of coal; study and absorb advanced technology from around the world to continuously improve safety measures, reduce coal losses, and minimize environmental pollution;

- Strengthen and develop the application of information technology in managing coal resources, environmental management, technical safety management, and production operation towards modernization. Apply automated control technology in some production lines, safety monitoring, and environmental control in mines;

- Concentrate on researching reasonable technological solutions to effectively exploit complex geological conditions coal seams and regions; study comprehensive solutions for mine slope stability, overall planning for waste disposal, transportation, and drainage for open-pit mines, and solutions to enhance safety in underground mines; implement research on clean coal technology, high-quality lump coal and low-quality coal usage technology;

Article 2. Implementation Organization

1. Ministry of Industry and Trade:

a. Take the lead and coordinate with relevant ministries, sectors, and localities to implement this Strategy. Direct the construction and implementation of the Coal Industry Development Plan until 2025;

b. Take the lead and coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to study and perfect mechanisms and policies related to activities in the coal industry and take specific measures to strictly manage coal resources and accelerate the progress of coal mine project investments;

c. Take the lead and coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to direct the production, export, and import of coal; approve plans and guide and inspect their implementation;

2. Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall take the lead and coordinate with relevant ministries, sectors, and localities to direct the investigation, survey, and exploration of coal resources and reserves nationwide to ensure sufficient resources to meet the Strategy's objectives; direct, inspect, supervise, and take specific measures to properly carry out environmental protection work in coal mining areas;

3. Ministry of Science and Technology shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and relevant ministries and sectors to direct the implementation of scientific and technological activity programs in the field of investigation, survey, exploration, exploitation, screening, processing, and utilization of coal towards absorbing and applying advanced technology that is environmentally friendly and reduces coal loss;

4. Ministry of Finance shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the State Bank of Vietnam to continue studying, perfecting, and issuing mechanisms for capital mobilization and effective capital use for the development of the coal industry;

5. Ministry of Education and Training shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministries of Industry and Trade and Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to direct the establishment and organization of training programs for technical cadres, managers, and skilled workers to meet the needs of the coal industry's development;

6. People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities shall direct the implementation of the following tasks:

a. Strengthen propaganda, dissemination, and legal education on minerals; implement measures to protect coal mineral resources being exploited and those yet to be exploited within their jurisdiction;

b. Strengthen inspection and supervision of the enforcement of mineral laws by organizations and individuals engaged in coal mineral activities in their locality;

7. Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Group shall be primarily responsible for the development of the coal industry, supplying domestic coal, and coordinating with major coal consumers to import coal for the country's socio-economic development, contributing to ensuring national energy security;

8. Relevant ministries, sectors, localities, enterprises, organizations, and individuals shall organize and implement the Strategy according to their functions and responsibilities;

Article 3. This Decision shall take effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette;

Article 4. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-affiliated agencies, Chairpersons of provincial and centrally governed city People's Committees, and related organizations and individuals are responsible for implementing this Decision./.