Fluorspar is not among the top export items in Mongolia, but is beginnings to play an increasingly important role in the country’s economy. Total production is 2012 was 420,000 tons, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), making it the world’s third largest producer. Most of the output feeds China and Russia, but one reason why there are no other markets is insufficient transportation infrastructure. Production has recently stuttered as global demand has fallen, but most commentators expect the market to pick up soon.Vancouver-based Prima Fluorspar has signed a letter of intent in September with US-based fund Firebird Management, which holds a 99.8 percent majority stake in BerkhUul JSC, owners of the Delgerkhan fluorspar mine. The deposit holds almost 10 million tons of ore grading 33.47 percent calcium fluoride.
“Delgerkhan is one of the largest in the world,” said James Passin, fund manager at Firebird, who has been developing the mine since 2011. “There is fluorspar that we would intend to produce through an open-cast mine. The rest of the deposit will be produced by underground mining by rehabilitating the existing shafts,” he said. The next steps for the project are to dewater and remediate the existing mine infrastructure, with a 2014 fourth-quarter target date for first production, at a run rate of 120,000 tons a year. Meanwhile, Mongolia Minerals Corp. is developing its Dai Uul project in Dornogobi Aimag. The project is not as advanced as Firebird’s, but it recently increased its reserve estimates.