Red River coal project problems can be solved, VINACOMIN representative

To ensure a two-way flow of information on the Red River coal basin scheme, VietNamNet presents comments by the director of Red River Energy Company, which compiled the project.

A coal mining site in Quang Ninh.

My company is a subsidiary of VINACOMIN. Speaking also on its behalf, I would like to rebut doctor of geology Nguyen Sy Quy’s criticism about the Red River Delta coal basin project that were recently reported by VietNamNet.

First of all, most of the ideas Dr. Quy expressed as a member of the VUSTA evaluation council were checked and replied to by SHE at the most recent meeting of the evaluation council.  The opinions Dr. Quy expressed when interviewed by VietNamNet are not convincing, and can lead to misunderstanding.

When he was interviewed, Dr. Quy said “our biggest worry is that coal mining activities could cause the earth to sink, turning the Red River Delta, now the north’s rice basket, into a salt water lake. Some experts fear that if care is not taken, we may also have to move local residents to another place.”

Actually, subsidence is also a VINACOMIN’s concern; we haven’t hidden this. We are the experts on coal mining technology. It was our professional duty to explain it to the Government, and the duty of government agencies to evaluate that risk and other difficulties this project will encounter when it is implemented.

Nobody has predicted a forced “relocation of local residents to another place.” When briefing on  the Red River Delta coal basin scheme, for example in meetings with officials of Hung Yen and Thai Binh provinces, VINACOMIN has said very clearly that moving local people in order to mine coal would be a show-stopper. If that were necessary, we would stop this project and forget that Vietnam has 210 billion tons of coal potentially available under the Red River Delta.

In terms of technology, there are many solutions to prevent subsidence, that is, the sinking of the earth above a deep mining operation.  VINACOMIN has already withdrawn the solution of filling up mining sites with soil taken from other places, because it is difficult to explain, though it is the cheapest and simplest solution.

Dr. Quy asked where we would get such a huge volume of soil to fill up a mining site. That is not a real worry. Is it possible that there’s less soil in the Red River Delta than coal? Technically, when we extract one ton of coal, we will have to use around one cubic meter of sand to fill up the empty space and thus prevent depression. Economically, one ton of coal is much more valuable than a cubic meter of sand.

In its scheme, VINACOMIN gave a preliminary introduction to coal site management theory. Only the people who have enough information and are very good at English can understand it. This is the “playground” of coal mining experts, not geologists.

As to the feasibility of this project, I would like to note that no scientist has yet ‘calculated’ or ‘made an announcement’ about the volume of water that may infiltrate the mines.

The quantity of water possibly running into the mining sites is only mentioned in a geological report of the preliminary exploration of the Binh Minh coal mine site in the 1980s. It was calculated by geologists based on a formula. Many parameters in that calculation need to be re-evaluated, because those geologists didn’t understand accurately the concepts of pit mining technology.

I was very surprised when Dr. Quy confirmed that “in terms of science, we can only pump out around 6000 to 10,000 cubic meters of water per hour”.

Billionaire Bill Gates recently suggested a project to pumping cold water from the bottom layer of oceans to the surface layer to influence the course of hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea.  ‘In terms of science,’ it is feasible to mine coal on the moon, let alone pump 10,000 cubic meters of water per hour from mining sites in the Red River Delta.

Regarding COMECON’s alleged refusal to help Vietnam research the feasibility of exploiting the Red River Delta coal basin, I see Dr. Quy is confusing the Red River Delta coal project with bauxite mining in the Central Highlands.

In the 1980s, I and other representatives of the coal sector worked at the Coal Industy Department of COMECON. (COMECON was a mutual economic assistance organization of the former Soviet bloc countries. It was dissolved in January 1991 – ed.)

It’s true there was a survey project sponsored by NEDO. (NEDO is a Japanese energy assistance organization – ed.). I participated in that project. I asked NEDO to include study of geological and hydrometeorological conditions of this project but NEDO refused. They funded the project so Vietnam had to accept the scheme suggested by NEDO, which didn’t have geological and hydrometeorological research.

I know that NEDO’s project only evaluated the coal reserves. The data about geology and hydrometeorology in its report were copied from research done in 1983-1984 by Vietnamese experts. The funding for this project was less than $15 million.

At a recent meeting of the evaluation council, we explained clearly that because the geological conditions of the Red River Delta coal basin are very complicated and diversified, we need to test technologies.

There are two technologies that need to be tested, underground coal mining (UCM) and underground coal gasification (UCG). These two technologies will not cause depression, will not harm agricultural production and will not force residents to move – our own requirements for the Red River Delta coal basin scheme.

The coal seams are located from 150 meters to thousands of meter underground. At different depths, the UCM and UCG approaches offer different solutions and have different influences on the ground.

VINACOMIN proposes to test the two technologies at various depths. It will be wonderful if all of them are successful, but if not, we will assuredly report to the Government and the National Assembly in time for it to make alternative plans to supply coal for the economy.

Regarding capital for the project, VINACOMIN will have to cooperate with foreign partners in the form of sharing profit and risks. Oil and gas projects are similar. Typically VINACOMIN contributes 51-60 percent of the capital and foreign partners 40-49 percent.  

Tests will be made in different locations but during the same period of time, spanning five years for the underground coal gasification technology and ten years for the underground coal mining technology.  If we were to test one approach at a one, we would need up to 20-40 years for this job.

I do agree with Dr. Quy that “exploiting coal seams is a non-renewable activity with a duration, say, of a hundred years, and bearing many risks. Meanwhile, we have exploit our rice basket for thousands of years. Let’s test carefully. If we can exploit coal with high benefit without destroying our ability to produce rice, we should do, otherwise we should never exchange coal for rice”.

VINACOMIN and SHE are willing to listen to all opinions, including criticisms, about this project, but opinions should be well-reasoned, honest, constructive and objective.

We understand and highly appreciate the media’s role in collecting opinions of readers and the people, who stand to benefit from and suffer from the implementation of this scheme.

As the representative of VINACOMIN in this scheme, SHE has provided basic information about the scheme to Nhan Dan, VietNamNet, Saigon Tiep Thi and Tien Phong newspapers and we will collect and answer or explain questions of readers. All opinions and criticism by readers are very important and useful for SHE.

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Son 

Tags: About This Project, Coal Basin, Coal Mining, Delta Coal, Delta Coal Basin, Dr Nguyen Thanh, Dr Nguyen Thanh Son, Dr Quy, Nguyen Thanh Son, Red River, Red River Delta, Red River Delta Coal, River Delta, River Delta Coal, River Delta Coal Basin, The Coal, The Red, The Red River, The Red River Delta, This Project, Underground Coal, Physics games

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