There is no single answer to ‘can foreigners mine in Vietnam’ — the answer changes by mineral group: common construction materials are wide open, precious metals and strategic minerals are narrow and partner-linked. This article tiers the minerals market by FDI access: prohibited segments, practically restricted segments, and conditional-but-navigable segments with the right file.
Tiering minerals market access for FDI
- The common conditional layer — mineral exploitation is a conditional business line; mining projects require investment-policy approval (acceptance of investment guidelines) under Investment Law 143/2025/QH15 (replacing 61/2020 from 1 March 2026) before entering minerals licensing under Law on Geology and Minerals 54/2024/QH15.
- Strategic minerals — high practical restriction: rare earths, security–defence-related minerals and sensitive border/island areas are under special control; foreign investors access them in practice through joint ventures with tasked domestic enterprises, and Vietnam’s FTAs contain no free market-opening commitment for this group.
- Industrial minerals and construction materials — conditional but open: FDI projects are licensed where they meet planning, mining-right auction (where applicable), financial–technical capacity and environmental requirements; cement, construction stone and sand are segments with real FDI presence in Vietnam.
- No general foreign-equity cap: the law sets no single foreign ownership percentage ceiling for the whole mining sector; the barriers sit in project conditions and mineral groups, not in an ownership figure — apart from project-specific conditions in individual policy approvals or sensitive areas.
Assessing FDI feasibility for a specific mine
- Fix the mineral group and the mine’s location before anything else: these two factors decide the access tier, licensing authority and the need for a domestic partner.
- Run the dual track: investment-policy approval under the Investment Law in parallel with planning checks and mining-right auction conditions under the Geology and Minerals Law — missing either track stalls the project.
- Design the ownership structure to approval reality: for strategic minerals, file the joint-venture model and deep-processing commitments from the start instead of submitting a wholly foreign-owned model and amending later.
FDI into Vietnamese mining is a tiering exercise, not an open-or-shut door. Investors who read the correct tier for their target mineral — and design the file for that tier — save years compared with those who bring one generic model to every mine.
Frequently asked questions
Which minerals may foreign investors mine?
Broadest access is to industrial minerals and construction materials under ordinary licensing conditions; narrowest is strategic minerals (rare earths, defence-related), where FDI in practice enters via joint ventures with tasked domestic enterprises.
Does mining require investment-policy approval?
Yes: mining projects fall under investment-policy approval pursuant to Investment Law 143/2025/QH15, carried out before or in parallel with minerals licensing under Law on Geology and Minerals 54/2024/QH15.
Is foreign ownership in a mining company capped?
There is no single sector-wide percentage cap; barriers lie in conditions by mineral group, project location and project-specific terms in individual policy-approval decisions.
Must FDI go through mining-right auctions?
Where the mineral area is auction-designated under Law 54/2024, every investor including FDI must win the mining-right auction; non-auction areas apply to statutory cases such as projects designated in specific planning.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council