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Vietnam

Dong Pao (Lavreco)

A Vimico (TKV/Vinacomin) subsidiary that held the license for the Dong Pao bastnaesite deposit in Lai Chau, Vietnam, from 2014 without starting mining; its parent's audited 2025 accounts report the project's investment certificate was revoked in early 2026.

Points to check

Facts from the sources on this page that a reader should weigh before relying on the company's own figures.

At a glance

Founded
2008 — Founded with six shareholders and VND 350 billion charter capital (CafeF gives 2008; Bao Dau Thau gives 2007). Shareholders reported in 2024: Vimico 55%, Hung Hai Construction 20%, an individual 17%, Viet Phuong Investment 8%.
Headquarters
Ban Thac Can, Binh Lu commune, Lai Chau province, Vietnam (parent Vimico: Hanoi)
Ownership
Unlisted subsidiary; Vietnam National Minerals Corporation (Vimico, HNX: KSV) holds 55%. TKV (Vinacomin) holds more than 98% of Vimico.
Stage
Early stage. Licensed in 2014 and never mined; the investment certificate was revoked in early 2026. Work on the ore is a 100 t Hanoi pilot by another company and Korean process research.
Listing
Hanoi (HNX): KSV
Listed through its parent or partner. Lavreco is unlisted; Vimico (HNX: KSV) holds 55%. TKV (Vinacomin) holds more than 98% of Vimico, and Vimico's auditor flagged a risk to its public-company status (March 2026).
Revenue
Not publicly disclosed. This company does not publish revenue and no named third party has published an estimate of it.

Capacity

Each date below links to the document the figure came from. A capacity figure with no source is not on this page.

WhatFigureStatusAs of
Rare earth concentrate (>30% TREO), Dong Pao, Lavreco plan80,000-90,000 t/yr target (plan, April 2024); also 100,000-160,000 t/yr barite and 200,000-250,000 t/yr fluorite concentrateAnnouncedApr 2024
Pilot total rare earth oxide (>95% TREO) from Dong Pao ore, Hanoi, third-party operator100 kg ore/hour design; maximum 100 t ore over 18 monthsPilot scaleSep 2026
Mixed rare earth oxide process design for Dong Pao ore (KIGAM-led research)2,000 t/yr design basis (research objective)AnnouncedAug 2026

Narrative

Lai Chau Rare Earth JSC - Vimico (Lavreco) was set up in 2007 or 2008 (press accounts differ) with charter capital of VND 350 billion; Vimico, the minerals arm of state group TKV (Vinacomin), holds 55%. The Lai Chau People's Committee issued the Dong Pao project's investment certificate on December 31, 2013, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment granted a 30-year mining license in December 2014 to Lavreco and a Japanese partner. Press reports give geological reserves of more than 11.3 million metric tons of ore (dry basis) and licensed reserves of about 1.1 million metric tons of rare earth oxide (TR2O3), plus about 4.2 million metric tons of barite and 6 million metric tons of fluorite. The Japanese partner withdrew and mining never started. In September 2023 Reuters reported that Vietnam Rare Earth JSC (VTRE) and Blackstone Minerals planned to bid for Dong Pao concessions; Blackstone, VTRE and Australian Strategic Materials signed an MoU in July 2023, and VTRE's chairman was arrested in October 2023. In April 2024 Lavreco described a plan to self-fund modular mining and beneficiation for 80,000 to 90,000 metric tons per year of concentrate grading above 30% TREO, with first concentrate by the end of 2026. Lavreco reported a net loss of VND 7.7 billion for the first nine months of 2025, and the Lai Chau tax authority enforced a tax debt of more than VND 137 billion by deducting funds from its accounts (notice dated August 21, 2025). In November 2025 the company said it was adjusting its investment certificate and seeking partners. Vimico's audited 2025 accounts, as reported by CafeF on March 31, 2026, state that the project's investment certificate was revoked and its operations ended in early 2026. Separately, on September 1, 2026 the Hanoi People's Committee approved an 18-month pilot by Mining Technology and Construction Consultancy JSC to produce total rare earth oxide above 95% from up to 100 metric tons of Dong Pao ore, at 100 kg of ore per hour, for testing only. Korean research groups have reported work toward a 2,000-metric-ton-per-year mixed rare earth oxide process design for Dong Pao ore.

Where public sources disagree

Sources

  1. CafeF Mar-26 (Vimico FY25) — CafeF (2026-03-31)
  2. VIR Sep-26 Hanoi pilot — Vietnam Investment Review (2026-09-04)
  3. CafeF Nov-25 Lavreco — CafeF (2025-11-03)
  4. Soha May-26 — Soha (2026-05-18)
  5. Bao Phap Luat Nov-25 — Doanh Nhan / Bao Phap Luat (2025-11-03)
  6. Bao Dau Thau Apr-24 — Bao Dau Thau (2024-04-03)
  7. Cong Thuong Aug-23 — Kinh te & Cong Thuong (2023-08-26)
  8. Dan Tri Nov-25 — Dan Tri (2025-11-29)
  9. VietnamPlus Sep-26 — VietnamPlus (2026-09)
  10. REEx Aug-26 Korea pilot — Rare Earth Exchanges (2026-08-27)
  11. Reuters Sep-23 (via Deccan Herald) — Reuters (2023-09-24)
  12. NS Energy MoU Jul-23 — NS Energy (2023-07-27)
  13. Tuoi Tre Decision 866 — Tuoi Tre (2023-07-25)
  14. Soha Oct-26 export list — Soha (2026-10-06)
  15. Doanh Nhan Mar-26 Vimico AGM — Doanh Nhan / Bao Phap Luat (2026-03-29)

How this page is sourced

Everything here comes from public sources — company filings, annual reports, exchange announcements, government releases and trade press. Every figure is linked to the document it came from and carries the date that document was published, because a capacity number without a date is not a fact, it is a rumor with a decimal point.

What is deliberately absent: material nonpublic information. I have spent more than two decades in this industry and a good deal of what I know about these companies I learned under NDA. Those obligations do not expire and they do not bend for a website. Nothing I have been told in confidence appears here in any form, and nothing on this page — or missing from it — should be read as a signal about what I know privately. I hold NDAs absolutely. It is the reason clients tell me things.

Judgment is the other thing left out on purpose. This page reports what has been published and who published it. Whether a target is credible, whether a ramp will hold, whether a capacity figure survives contact with the plant behind it — that is the work I do for clients, and it does not belong in a free reference page.

Where public sources disagree, I say so rather than picking a winner. Where a figure has not been published, the field says so rather than carrying an estimate. An empty field is information too.

Public filings tell you what a company has said. Whether it holds up is a different question, and the one I get hired to answer.

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