Toyota Tsusho may get Vietnam mining rights in mid 2011

News - Toyota Tsusho Corp is likely to secure mining rights for a rare-earth metals project in Vietnam around mid 2011, The Nikkei said citing the company's President Junzo Shimizu.

Toyota Tsusho, a trading house affiliated with Toyota Motor Corp , and project partner Sojitz Corp have been preparing to start rare-earth operations in Vietnam since they got the go-ahead at a late-October summit between the Japanese and Vietnamese prime ministers, the daily said.

However, due to drawn-out Vietnamese proceedings, they are yet to get mining rights needed to kick off the project, the paper said.

After the approval processes, Toyota Tsusho and Sojitz will build a plant for extracting and refining rare earths, the Nikkei added.