On the morning of July 26, 2026, at the site of the electrolytic aluminum project in Duonong Province, Vietnam, 20 500kA electrolytic cells were simultaneously powered on, and the hot aluminum liquid slowly flowed out. Pan Wenjiang, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and Tan Yaoyu, General Manager of China Nonferrous Metal Construction Co., Ltd., jointly witnessed the first batch of primary aluminum being discharged from the tank. At this moment, Vietnam has been waiting for decades - from a bauxite exporting country to a primary aluminum producing country, this factory, which is contracted by a Chinese enterprise, has officially entered a new era for Vietnam's aluminum industry.

Breaking Southeast Asian record 50 days ahead of schedule

The overall project plan is to produce 450000 tons of primary aluminum annually, with a first phase production capacity of 150000 tons. China Nonferrous Metal Construction Co., Ltd., as the general contractor, fully leveraged the advantages of EPC full chain management and collaborated with multiple units such as Northeastern University Design and Research Institute, Guizhou Construction Investment, and China 15th Metallurgical Group Corporation to overcome challenges such as cross-border material transportation obstacles and high-temperature construction during the rainy season. On July 14, 2026, the first batch of primary aluminum was successfully produced, 50 days ahead of the contract period, setting a new record for the performance speed of large-scale electrolytic aluminum EPC projects in Southeast Asia. By the time of the production ceremony, all 20 electrolytic cells in AB and CD workshops had produced aluminum, achieving zero major safety and quality failures in the entire process of power transmission, roasting, and aluminum production.

Vietnamese Prime Minister praises milestone significance

At the production ceremony, Pan Wenjiang pointed out that the birth of Vietnam's first aluminum ingot product is a significant milestone, marking Vietnam's formal mastery of the ability to independently produce aluminum metal, realizing the extension of the aluminum industry chain to downstream products, and opening a new chapter in the development of Vietnam's aluminum industry. The Vietnamese government and the owner Chen Hongjun Metallurgical Company highly praised China National Chemical Corporation for its efficient performance, complete metallurgical technology strength, and refined control level. Keywords: the Belt and Road news network, electrolytic aluminum

Benchmark projects drive industrial employment

Tan Yaoyu said that China Nonferrous Metal Construction Co., Ltd. was honored to have built Vietnam's first copper smelter and now participate in the construction of the first electrolytic aluminum plant. The successful production of aluminum in the project has filled the gap in Vietnam's self-produced primary aluminum, and is a benchmark project for the two countries to work together. After the project is put into operation, it will continue to drive thousands of local employment opportunities, further improve Vietnam's industrial layout, stimulate regional tax revenue and foreign trade exports, and inject new momentum into China Vietnam economic and trade cooperation.Editor/Gao Xue