Chinese companies are expected to invest mine bauxite, and build an alumina refinery and a coal- fired power station in Vietnam's central region, Vietnam Investment Review reported Monday.

Chalco, China's leading mining firm, is waiting for being licensed to implement the bauxite mining and alumina refinery project which would possibly become China's largest project in Vietnam.

Chalco had agreed to contribute 40 percent to the mining project worth 300 million U.S. dollars in central highlands Dac Nong province, with the state-run Vietnam Coal and Mining Industries Group (Vinacomin) making up the remaining 60 percent.

The Chinese firm would hold share of 60 percent in the 1.1- billion dollar alumina refinery, which is expected to produce 1.9 million tons of alumina in the first phase and four million tons in the second one.

Chalco proposed to build the refinery in central Binh Thuan province to take advantage of convenient infrastructure there, while the Vietnamese government preferred it in Dac Nong, said the newspaper.

The government has recently allowed a Chinese electricity firm, China Southern Power Grid, to start a feasibility study for a 1, 200-MW thermoelectric plant in central Binh Thuan province.

Construction of the coal-fired power plant with total investment of over one billion dollars is expected to start late this year.

China now ranks 14th among 77 foreign investors in Vietnam with 434 operational projects worth nearly 1.2 billion dollars, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment.