On the morning of July 26, the Phase I commissioning ceremony of the Dak Nong 450,000t\a aluminum smelter project was grandly held at the project site in Vietnam. Senior national leaders including Phan Văn Giang, Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Vietnam and Minister of National Defence, and Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission, as well as provincial officials such as the Secretary of the Lam Dong Provincial Party Committee, attended the ceremony. Tan Yaoyu, President of NFC, was invited to attend and delivered a keynote speech.

Deputy Prime Minister Phan Văn Giang noted that the birth of Vietnam’s first aluminum ingots is a milestone of great significance. It marks Vietnam’s formal mastery of the capability to independently produce aluminum metal, extends the aluminum industrial chain toward downstream products, and opens a new chapter in the development of Vietnam’s aluminum industry.

Tan Yaoyu stated that NFC had the honor of building Vietnam’s first copper smelter in the past and is now participating in the construction of Vietnam’s first aluminum smelter plant, which fills us with pride. The successful production of primary aluminum from this project fills the gap in Vietnam’s domestic primary aluminum production. It is a benchmark project of China-Vietnam joint progress and a landmark achievement of lasting significance in the history of China-Vietnam economic and trade cooperation.

The project has a total planned capacity of 450,000 tonnes of primary aluminum per year, with Phase I designed for 150,000 tonnes. As the general contractor, NFC fully leveraged its resource coordination capabilities, overcame numerous difficulties, and successfully produced the first batch of primary aluminum on July 14 — 50 days ahead of the contractual schedule — setting a new record for the delivery speed of large-scale aluminum smelter EPC projects in Southeast Asia.

NFC confronted multiple complex challenges, including cross-border material transportation bottlenecks and prolonged high-temperature construction during Vietnam’s rainy season. By fully utilizing its EPC full-chain management advantages and working in close coordination with multiple partners, NFC coordinated process design, equipment procurement, on-site construction, commissioning and operation, and technical training. By the time of the commissioning ceremony, all 20 of the 500 kA electrolytic cells in Workshops AB and CD had successfully produced aluminum, achieving zero major safety or quality incidents throughout the entire process of power-on, baking, and aluminum tapping.

The Vietnamese government and the project owner, Tran Hong Quan Metallurgical Company, highly praised NFC’s efficient contract performance capability, complete metallurgical technology strength, and refined whole-process management. After the project enters full production, it will continue to create thousands of local jobs, further improve Vietnam’s industrial layout, and boost regional tax revenue and foreign trade exports.

Representatives from the Dak Nong Aluminum Smelter Project Department, the Vietnam Representative Office, and the Marketing Center of NFC attended the ceremony.