Chinese Government provides RMB 30 million grant for Sin Quyen Copper Mine Construction Project (Linked to Record ID#64488)

Project narrative

In November 2001, the Chinese Government provided an RMB 30 million grant to the Government of Vietnam for the Sin Quyen Copper Mine Construction Project. Then, on March 19, 2003, China Eximbank and the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam signed an RMB 336.15 million ($40.5 million) government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for the same project (see Record ID#64488). The GCL carried the following borrowing terms: 5-year grace period, 15-year maturity, and 3% interest rate. The proceeds of the loan were used to finance a commercial contract signed on September 19, 2002 with China Nonferrous Metal Industry Corporation (CNMIC). The purpose of the $81.36 million project was to construct a Sin Quyen copper mine and processing complex in Lao Cai province. Upon completion, it was envisaged that the complex would be capable of producing 1.2 million tonnes of copper ore (to be smelted into 41,700 tonnes of pure copper), 113,000 tonnes of iron ore, 40,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid, 19,600 tonnes of pyritic ore, and 341 kg of gold each year. Sin Quyen copper mine is now owned by Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) — a Vietnamese state-owned enterprise — and it was designed as a complex combining mining, dressing, smelting, acid-making, metal products recovery such as copper, gold, iron, sulfur and silver. The project commenced in April 2006 and was officially completed on August 25, 2008.