By G.Iderkhangai
The hard work of the young people at Ukhaa Khudag, the first coal handling and preparation plant in Mongolia, matched the intensity of the Gobi heat. This is what immediately struck the group of journalists and lecturers of Mongolian University of Science and Technology who had been taken by Energy Resource LLC to their Ukhaa Khudag deposit to see the how the plant worked. One day is not enough to understand what it took the company two years to set up but we came back with a fair idea of the importance and significance of the plant in Mongolia’s, and the company’s, future. The Ukhaa Khudag deposit has 435 million tons of coal and can be mined for at least 25 years. Energy Resource produced 3.9 million tons of coal last year, and this year’s target is 7 million tons, of which 4 million tons will be exported via the present plant.
Geologist A.Tsolmon said 550.000 tons of coal would be mined after 2.9 tons of ground rock are cleared. It is not just the numbers. The scope of everything around us was so impressive. What a huge machine! How many tons of coal does this truck load? But to the engineers and others whom we ask, every single questions is easy and they answer in detail. The Caterpillar 793D trucks are called yellow monsters. They have 2,438-horsepower engines, and load 60 tons or 4 wagons of coals as they emerge from deep pits, raising clouds of black dust. And they are being driven by young Mongolian men from traditional herder families. One feels proud to see how the latest mining technology has been successfully adapted to Mongolia’s wild Gobi steppe.
The world has just 2,000 such 793D trucks and 4 of them are working in Ukhaa Khudag. The Liebherr-designed shovel for the CAT 793D needs one ton of diesel for one hour of work. It is powered by two gigantic Cummins engines, the shovel volume is up to 36 m3, which corresponds to a payload of approximately 60 tons. To keep everything in good shape, a workshop able to handle repair and maintenance of 4 to 6 793Ds at the same time was put into operation in April 2010.
This coal handling and preparation plant of Energy Resource will forever be known as a landmark in Mongolia’s new era of industrialization. For the first time, value is being added to coal for export, boosting its competitiveness at the world market as well as giving Mongolian coking coal a brand identity. Energy Resource will not be able to export large volumes of processed coal this year, but it has placed small amounts at the markets in China, India, Japan, South Korea and Germany to test the quality of the product. Steel plants in all these countries tested Ukhaa Khudag coking and were uniformly satisfied with its high quality.
The coal handling plant was closed for maintenance so we could not see how it actually works, but we learnt how selling washed coal will reduce logistics costs, and help UHG expand its customer base, directly reaching end-users. This means global recognition of the competence and skills of Mongolian engineers.
The gest pool in Ulaanbaatar holds 6,000 cubic metres of water, while each of the two 5-metre-deep reservoirs in the mine is for 28,000 cubic metres, Ch.Bayarsaikhan, chief engineer of water supply at the mine, told us the water to meet the needs of the handling plant and also of local residents is drawn from 12 deep wells, and all the work was done by Mongolian engineers. A thick rubber cover protects against evaporation. Work on a filtering system that will turn the hard water of the Gobi soft, for consumption in the mining camp and elsewhere in Tsogtsetsii soum, is going on fast.
In the Gobi, water is a rare and precious commodity. The needs of the handling plant are huge and Canadian technology has been used to ensure that 94-96 per cent of the used water is recycled. Bayarsaikhan explained that the water law allows the company to use 30 per cent of the Naimant Valley water reserve. That should be enough for what the company will need in 20-25 years.
Tsogtsetsii soum has been witnessing a number of opening ceremonies, such as that of the water supply system, and of the Tsetsii apartment district. Mongolians used to avoid the Gobi because of the remoteness but now they see it as a center of industrialization. A year ago, Ts.Baasandorj, Director of the Project Department of Energy Resource, told MMJ that wonderful apartments would be coming up in the Gobi, and now we do have 48 family apartments! The company will provide furniture for each family and the first floor of the building will have a kindergarten for the workers’ children. Energy Resource believes that their staff should live with their family in a comfortable environment. Some 5,000 families are expected to move into Tsetsii, the district where the apartments are, in a few years. The company plans to build 150-180 family apartments this year and 200 next year.
The power plant at Ukhaa Khudag will provide electricity to an extensive area and not just to the mine and the handling plant, in another testimony to the expertise and skills of Mongolian engineers. They utilise the latest technology, including circulated fluidized bed technology, dry cooling system and an emission control system, appropriate for the arid Gobi climate. There will be no fumes as from the plants in Ulaanbaatar. The plant will begin producing 12 megawatts before Naadam, and the capacity will rise later this year.
Large green pockets will dot the Gobi in a few years, as the sprouting seedlings grow day by day in the wild thirsty ground of Naimant Valley, ready to take up the challenge posed by climate change. I realized that environmental management is not just a theoretical concept. Perennials have been planted in 2.5 hectares where the surface had been cleared for other needs earlier. Ultimately 15 hectares will come under afforestation. Along with producing coal, Energy Resource is turning the Gobi green.
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