Expecting the market to be more positive, Energy Resources, which runs the Ukhaakhudag coking coal mine in the southern gobi, is planning to be ready to operate all three units of its coal handling plant there from the autumn. Currently two units are active. The company feels it will need to raise production capacity if demand increases, as many feel it will.
The company now uses water from 12 wells in Naimantyn Khotgor, from where the water is piped into two reservoirs near the mine, each of which can hold 28,000 cubic metres. The company has identified another source in Naimdain Khundii, some 50 km from the mine site, where it plans to have 10 wells.
Ukhaakhudag recycles 98 percent of the water used in the mine, a very successful effort for conservation in the gobi region, where water is so scarce. No other mine in the country matches this.
Meanwhile, according to the recently released second quarter operational results of the company, mine production increased by 428% y-o-y, to 2.56 million tonnes, of which 2.35 million tonnes was processed, a 376% increase over the corresponding period of 2016, and resulting in production of 1.17 million tonnes of coking coal product at 50.0% yield. The company sold 1.087 million tons of coking coal in the quarter of this year, an increase of 187% y-o-y.
In the first half of the year taken as a whole, Energy Resources has extracted approximately 4.2 million tonnes of coal, of which 3.9 million tonnes had been processed. Of the 2 million tonnes of washed coking coal produced in this period, approximately 1.9 million tonnes was sold, showing a 216% increase y-o-y.