HANOI, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Police in Vietnam have arrested six people accused of violating mining regulations, including the chairman of a company at the forefront of a drive to create a rare earth industry that could challenge China’s dominance of the sector.
VTRE’s chairman, Luu Anh Tuan, was accused of forging value added tax receipts in trading rare earths with Thai Duong Group, which operates a mine in the northern Vietnamese province of Yen Bai, the Ministry of Public Security said on Friday.
Blackstone said in September that it had agreed to partner with VTRE to win concessions at the country’s biggest mine, Dong Pao in Lai Chau province.
ASM signed a binding agreement in April with VTRE for the purchase of 100 tons of processed rare earths this year, and committed to negotiating a longer-term supply deal.
Vietnam has the second-largest deposits of the critical minerals - used in making electric cars and wind turbines - after China, according to United States Geological Survey estimates.
The chairman of Thai Duong Group, Doan Van Huan, was also arrested, accused of making 632 billion dong ($25.80 million) from illegal sales of ore extracted from the mine his company operated in Yen Bai province.
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