Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Holding Corporation Ltd., or Vinacomin, has resumed production at its Mong Duong coal mine in the northern province of Quang Ninh, the company said Thursday.
Current production rate at the mine was 3,481 mt/day, it said in a statement. Vinacomin had earlier this year planned to produce 1.7 million mt of coal from the Mong Duong mine.
The mine was shut for three months following severe rains in the region which had led to almost all the coal projects in the Quang Ninh province -- Vietnam's main coal producing region -- to be shut over July 26-August 3.
While many of the projects resumed production shortly after, the Mong Duong mine needed more time to recover as it was hit the hardest, said Vinacomin. A large amount of mud, sand, soil and rock along with water had flooded the entire mine which took three months to clear, Vinacomin said.
Following the heavy rains this year, Vietnam sharply raised coal imports to 1.999 million mt over August 1-October 15, up 235.3% from 596,264 mt in the same period in 2014, data from Vietnam customs showed.
Vinacomin and state-owned North East Corp. are the two key coal producers in Vietnam.
The country, which mainly produces and imports thermal coal, was estimated to produce 4.07 million mt of coal in October, up 6.7% on year. It was estimated to produce 34.6 million mt of coal in the first 10 months of this year, up 6.7% from the same period last year, data from the Statistics Office showed earlier this week.
