USVN Our Team Capability

USVN Advisory Board and Technical Team | Minerals and Mining | Petroleum, Gas and Refining

USVN brings together senior advisors, advisors, and technical specialists with experience at the highest levels of government, national institutions, and international industry. Their combined background spans more than 175 years across geology and mineral resources, hydrometallurgy and minerals processing, mine permitting and operations, refining and petrochemicals, gas markets, and major project delivery, in Vietnam, Lao PDR, Kazakhstan, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.

This experience supports USVN’s integrated program in two areas: critical minerals and rare earths, from deposit to separated product; and petroleum, gas, and refining

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1.0 Minerals and Mining

Our minerals and mining team combines more than 120 years of experience in geology, mineral resources governance, hydrometallurgy, mine permitting, and critical minerals policy. It supports USVN’s rare earth and critical minerals program from the evaluation of deposits through mining, processing, and separation refining to finished products for offtake.

1.1 Government and Public-Sector Experience

  • Senior advisors who are former senior leaders of the national geology and minerals authorities of Vietnam and Lao PDR, at the deputy director, deputy director general, and director general levels, with nearly 40 and 35 years of service in geology and mineral resources respectively.

  • Direction of national geological surveys, mineral exploration, and resource assessment programs, and contributions to national minerals strategy, policy, regulation, and geological mapping in both countries.

  • Leadership of international cooperation in geology and minerals, including serving as head of a national international geological cooperation federation, recognized with national state honors.

  • Public research leadership, including management of planning and science and technology at a national mining-metallurgy research institute, and laboratory management at a national geological analysis centre.

1.2 Industry Experience

  • More than sixteen years at an operating nickel mine in northern Vietnam, rising to deputy general director and member of the members’ council, and senior commercial leadership for its ASX-listed parent, with responsibility for government relations, permitting, ESG, and community engagement, including the extension of the project’s mining and exploration licences.

  • More than 23 years of international hydrometallurgy and minerals processing, developing beneficiation, leaching, impurity removal, and purification flowsheets for rare earth elements, lithium, tin, tungsten, and nickel, from laboratory testwork and pilot campaigns to definitive feasibility studies, including high-purity rare earth compounds and 99.99% pure tin.

  • Senior metallurgical roles with mining and battery-materials companies, and technical due diligence on mining, refining, and battery-materials projects and investments.

  • Recent projects include an international critical raw materials scoping study between Europe and Vietnam, covering rare earths, tungsten, titanium, and nickel, and advisory work for foreign investors on investment procedures, permitting, and licensing in Vietnam.

1.3 Capabilities

  • Geological and resource evaluation of rare earth and critical minerals deposits, including ion-adsorption clay, carbonatite, and placer deposits.

  • Mineral licensing, concession, and regulatory frameworks in Vietnam and Lao PDR.

  • Government relations, permitting, and environmental approvals, conducted in line with USVN’s compliance requirements.

  • Hydrometallurgical process development, testwork design, and flowsheet optimisation.

  • Separation refining support and high-purity rare earth product finishing.

  • Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and community engagement.

  • Origination of mining, refining, and offtake opportunities, and support for negotiations with counterparties in Lao PDR.

2.0 Petroleum, Gas, and Refining

Our petroleum team combines more than 50 years of experience in refining, gas processing, petrochemicals, oil and gas infrastructure, and gas market regulation, across Kazakhstan, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Libya, and the United Kingdom. It supports USVN’s petroleum infrastructure and refining work, including in Central Asia.

2.1 Industry Experience

  • Recent projects include leading the owner’s team for a new 30,000 barrel-per-day refinery in North Africa with capital expenditure of more than US$1.2 billion, from concept and basic engineering through EPC contracting to operational handover.

  • More than a decade with a global energy major in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, delivering pipeline, gas processing, safety, and community infrastructure, including a 70-kilometre infield pipeline network completed three months ahead of schedule and capital budgets of up to US$150 million; and project leadership on a supermajor’s field infrastructure program in southern Iraq.

  • Process and technical safety engineering with leading international engineering contractors and gas operators, including the commissioning of a gas processing and compression plant.

  • Nearly 30 years in Kazakhstan’s refining, gas processing, and petrochemical sector, including general director of companies developing a liquefied petroleum gas fractionation plant and a propylene and polypropylene project, and procurement director of a major oil refinery.

2.2 Government and State-Sector Experience

  • Senior leadership within the group of Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company, including chairman of the board of a national petrochemical company and general director of the company managing a major refinery modernisation program.

  • Experience at Kazakhstan’s national gas company in pricing policy and regulation, including the approval of maximum wholesale gas prices, the review of draft gas pricing regulations, the monitoring of regulated tariffs, and working groups on the common gas market of the Eurasian Economic Union.

  • Early public service in the business development and support department of a city district administration in Almaty.

  • Representation of operators in negotiations and stakeholder engagement with national oil companies and government ministries in Iraq and the wider region.

2.3 Capabilities

  • Refinery, gas processing, and petrochemical project development and modernisation.

  • Project strategy, capital and operating budgets, and owner’s-team organisation.

  • EPC tender preparation, evaluation, negotiation, and contract award.

  • Procurement, logistics, and contract management for major industrial projects.

  • Process safety and health, safety, and environment (HSE) performance.

  • Gas pricing, tariff regulation, and the regulatory and investment framework in Kazakhstan.

  • Engagement with state-owned companies, financial institutions, and technology licensors.

  • Multilingual support in English, Arabic, Russian, and Kazakh.

3.0 How Our Team Works Together

Our advisors and specialists work as one team with USVN’s management, combining government and regulatory knowledge with technical, commercial, and project delivery expertise at each stage of a project, from opportunity screening and due diligence through permitting, engineering, and construction to operation and offtake. Team members work in Vietnamese, Lao, English, Russian, Kazakh, Arabic, and German.