Cavico Corp., a leading infrastructure development company based in Vietnam, today announced that its subsidiary Cavico Industry and Minerals received an exploration license from Vietnam’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for the Thung San Mineral Mine.

The mine, situated on 16.07 hectares of land in the Thung San Village, is located in the Nghe An province in Northern Vietnam, a well-known marble producing region.

According to Vietnam Department of Minerals Resources, the mine has proven reserves of approximately 4.22 million cubic meters of marble and 12.15 million tons of calcium carbonate. Cavico intends to utilise an open cut mining technique to excavate the mine and extract the natural resources.

Thung San Mineral Mine. Photo: Cavico.

According to the license, Cavico will be authorised to extract 88.6 thousand cubic meter of marble and 255 thousand tons of calcium carbonate per year for the next 30 years. However, if future demand of marble and calcium carbonate grows, Cavico may request an increase of the amount of materials to be extracted.

In the recent years, global demand for calcium carbonate has increased substantially. Calcium carbonate is used in the manufacture of plastics, rubber, paint, cement, mortar, paper and agricultural feeds and fertilisers. Calcium carbonate is a rare natural resource in Vietnam and normally is exported to Japan, Korea and Taiwan.

“This license creates enormous opportunities for Cavico. The license is the final legal document required from the government for Cavico to proceed further with our exploration and construction efforts at the Thung San Mineral Mine,” commented Mr. Hai Thanh Tran, vice president of Cavico. “We are currently on schedule to complete the necessary access roads to transport our equipment to this location.”