Vinacomin to divest 33 per cent of Vietnam's top copper mining firm

Vinacomin will divest 33.06 per cent of Vimico

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Vinacomin Minerals Holding Corporation (Vimico) is one of the leading businesses under the management of Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin), focusing on precious metal mining and processing.

Equitised and operated as a joint stock company since October 6, 2015, as well as listed under the ticker KSV on the UPCoM of Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) since July 28, 2016, Vimico is flying under the radars of the domestic stock market and investors.

Rights over Vietnam’s largest copper reserve

Currently, Vimico is exploiting numerous mineral reserves, including gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, and zinc. Copper is the primary item in the the company’s diversified portfolio.

Vimico is now the leading company in copper mining and processing due to owning mining rights in Vietnam’s largest copper reserve, the Sin Quyen copper complex.

The Sin Quyen copper complex is located in Bat Xat district, Lao Cai province, close to the Chinese border. The copper reserve amounts to roughly 17.3 million tonnes of ore, equivalent to around 200,000 tonnes of metal.

In 2003, Vimico officially started the implementation of the Sin Quyen copper complex, one of the biggest metal processing projects at the time. The complex is divided into two zones, the selected reserve situated in Bat Xat district and the metallurgy plant situated in Tang Loong Industrial Park, Bao Thang district.

After three years of works, the Sin Quyen copper complex officially started operation in 2006. The complex sorts ores containing more than 0.8 per cent copper with a recovery rate of 92-97 per cent due to cutting-edge technology and synchronous equipment. Copper selection and metallurgy productivity achieved 1.1 million tonnes of ores and 10,000 tonnes of copper per year.

Due to investment in the complex’s synchronous selection and metallurgy lines, Vimico became a top domestic firm in operating a self-contained process manufacturing chain, from mining and selecting to processing ores into copper.

Upcoming roadshow

During 2013-2016, the global copper price constantly dropped, significantly affecting Vimico’s business performance. However, since late 2016, copper prices recovered and started soaring due to the surging copper demand in China—the world’s largest copper consumer. Meanwhile, copper supply plunged after multiple reserves were forced to close as a consequence of the price drop and policies constraining ore export issued by some leading copper mining countries.

Along with the recovery in price, Vimico attained a consolidated revenue of VND2.57 trillion ($113.34 million) during the first six months of 2017, a 45 per cent growth over of the corresponding period in 2016, and consolidated after-tax profit of VND100 billion ($4.4 million) compared to the gross loss of VND45 billion in the same period of 2016.

To maintain its growth, the firm set a record target for 2017, including VND5 trillion ($220 million) and VND250 billion ($11 million) in consolidated revenue and before-tax profit, respectively.

Being the largest shareholder with 98.06 per cent of the shares, Vinacomin plans to divest 33.06 per cent of its stakes in Vimico, equivalent to 66.12 million shares.

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