  The processes leading to dust formation and the subsequent role it plays in
driving mass loss in cool evolved stars is an area of intense study. Here we
present high resolution ALMA Science Verification data of the continuum
emission around the highly evolved oxygen-rich red supergiant VY CMa. These
data enable us to study the dust in its inner circumstellar environment at a
spatial resolution of 129 mas at 321 GHz and 59 mas at 658 GHz, thus allowing
us to trace dust on spatial scales down to 11 R$_{\star}$ (71 AU). Two
prominent dust components are detected and resolved. The brightest dust
component, C, is located 334 mas (61 R$_{\star}$) South East of the star and
has a dust mass of at least $2.5\times 10^{-4}$ M$_{\odot}$. It has a dust
emissivity spectral index of $\beta =-0.1$ at its peak, implying that it is
optically thick at these frequencies with a cool core of $T_{d}\lesssim 100$ K.
Interestingly, not a single molecule in the ALMA data has emission close to the
peak of this massive dust clump. The other main dust component, VY, is located
at the position of the star and contains a total dust mass of $4.0 \times
10^{-5} $M$_{\odot}$. It also contains a weaker dust feature extending over
$60$ R$_{\star}$ to the North with the total component having a typical dust
emissivity spectral index of $\beta =0.7$. We find that at least $17\%$ of the
dust mass around VY CMa is located in clumps ejected within a more quiescent
roughly spherical stellar wind, with a quiescent dust mass loss rate of $5
\times 10^{-6}$ M$_{\odot} $yr$^{-1}$. The anisotropic morphology of the dust
indicates a continuous, directed mass loss over a few decades, suggesting that
this mass loss cannot be driven by large convection cells alone.
