The $460 million Tan Rai alumina plant, invested in by Vinacomin, Vietnam’s top coal mining group, would run at 20 percent of its designed 600,000-ton output capacity when it begins production, the official Nhan Dan (People) newspaper said.

The refinery was initially supposed to start production in February and export alumina in March, but those plans had been delayed and it was due to turn out its first product on Sept. 20, Vinacomin and the Vietnam News Agency have said.

The facility, built in the central highland province of Lam Dong, would reach full capacity by 2013, the year when another alumina complex invested in by Vinacomin would also start production, the newspaper run by the ruling Vietnam Communist Party said.

Hanoi-based Vinacomin, or the Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group, did not have an immediate comment.

“This is a major complex, the first of its kind and it has gone through many obstacles,” a Vinacomin manager said earlier this week, referring to the Tan Rai complex.

The Vietnam News Agency has attributed the cause of the delay to adverse weather, power shortages and slow equipment delivery.

The Tan Rai refinery will sell its material through tenders rather than directly to China’s Yunnan Metallurgical Group under a 30-year sales agreement between the two firms, sources at Yunnan and Vinacomin have said.

Alumina is a white powder made from bauxite ore and is used for producing aluminum.

Vinacomin has also been developing the Nhan Co. project in Lam Dong’s neighboring province of Dak Nong, with projected initial output of 600,000 tons of alumina.

The engineering, procurement and construction contract for both the Tan Rai and Nhan Co. complexes were given to China Aluminum International Engineering Co.

Vietnam’s mostly untouched bauxite ore reserves are estimated at between 5.6 billion and 8.3 billion tons, making it the world’s third-largest after Guinea and Australia.

So far the Southeast Asian nation has to rely on aluminum import, with Australia, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand among the biggest suppliers.