A central Vietnamese province is preparing to put a centuries-old gold mine on the tourism map.

The Bong Mieu gold mine in Quang Nam province’s Phu Ninh district has been exploited in turn by the Chinese, Vietnamese, and French, and remains productive today.

The province’s Tourism Department wants to make it by 2007 a tourist destination where domestic and foreign travelers can see the vault where the gold is stored after processing, the various techniques used since the beginning to mine and process the precious metal, and others.

They can also catch a glimpse of a modern gold-processing line used now by the Bong Mieu Gold company and buy actual ores with gold as souvenirs.

But the department’s director, Dinh Hai, admitted following a fam trip of Bong Mieu for domestic travel companies that there were still many problems to be resolved before the gold mine tour could be started.
 
 

Thanh Nien