ABSTRACT
Vietnam officially became one nation on July 2, 1976, although warfare had ceased in April 1975. The country’s 45 million inhabitants traditionally have been engaged in agriculture, and most of what little industry there is, is in the north. Wartime disruptions and bombings were severe, and production data and the status of facilities are difficult to ascertain. However, there is enough information to evaluate Vietnam’s general resource position, the characteristics of its mineral industries, and its efforts to rehabilitate and expand facilities. The Vietnamese have a small core of miners and industry workers in existing operations, and many learned the rudiments of mechanics in dealing with vehicles, engines, and pumps during the war. Vietnam’s power output in the north may have been about a billion kwh in 1975, a reported 29-percent increase over 1974.
