The Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) will invest 7.8 trillion Vietnamese dong (VND) (487.5 million U.S. dollars) in tapping bauxite and producing aluminum in the central highlands Lam Dong province, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Tuesday.

   Under the investment license granted by the provincial People's Committee last weekend, the state-owned group, the biggest in the domestic coal and mineral field, will annually mine nearly 4 million tons of bauxite and produce 600,000 tons of aluminum, when the bauxite mining and aluminum refinery project, to be located in Bao Lam district, operates in 2010.

   There are about 72 million cubic meters of bauxite to be mined, which should take about 50 years, said a representative from the provincial People's Committee. 

   The project is expected to create 500 jobs.