Mine

Complex challenges face Mongolia’s coal industry The government of Mongolia recognises both that exploitation of its mineral wealth is essential if the economy is to grow and that it must establish a sustainable way forward if it is to avoid the problems that have affected several other resource rich developing countries in the past.

Oyu Tolgoi produces first concentrate Turquoise Hill Resources has announced that its 65%-owned Oyu Tolgoi copper/gold project has now produced its first copper/gold concentrate after it processed first ore through the concentrator in early January.

Mongolia Minerals targets 2014 for first production Fluorspar developer Mongolia Minerals is targeting a production date of late 2014 for its Dai Uul project in Central Mongolia.

Altan Rio intersects 1.77 gt gold over 8.05 m at Chandman-Yol Toronto-listed Altan Rio Minerals has announced results from the recently completed drilling programme at its 100%-owned Chandman-Yol copper-gold porphyry project, including 8.05 m at 1.77 g/t gold only 16.30 m from surface, at the recently discovered Takhilt target.

No E-TT IPO in 2013 The Tavan Tolgoi coal project is facing financial difficulties and an initial public offering for the mine originally scheduled for this year will not go ahead, its chief executive has said. Ya.

Mongolia tapping Shenhua to replace Chalco Mongolian ambassador Ts. Sukhbaatar has said his country is reaching out to China’s largest coal producer China Shenhua Energy in an effort to break a deadlock over the terms of the souring coal supply deal with Chalco. The impasse has led in part to Tavan Tolgoi being unable to continue to pay for the logistical operations of transporting and exporting the coal to China, he said.

Aspire and Noble in “game changing” deal Aspire Mining has snared a major deal with Noble Group that will provide significant support for the development of the Ovoot Coking Coal Project.

Khan Resources makes progress in UN arbitration against Mongolia Khan Resources reports that the United Nations (UN) Commission on International Trade Law has taken the arbitration between project developer Khan Resources and the Mongolian Government to the quantum and damages phase.

Mining Minister commissions OT concentrator The very last week of 2012 saw Oyu Tolgoi LLC take a big step towards the future. With MPs, cabinet members, and ambassadors watching, Mining Minister D. Gankhuyag pressed the activation button on the concentrator to formally mark the commissioning of the largest and most technologically advanced machine ever built in Mongolia.

Ovoot review confirms project economics, says Aspire Following a review of the prefeasibility study (PFS) of its Ovoot coking coal project, Aspire Mining believes it could be one of the lowest-cost potential sources of coal bound for China. The PFS review confirms the project’s economics, with a net present value of $1.7 billion and a life-of-mine net cash surplus, after taxes and capital of $8.3 billion, based on a medium-term average coking coal price of $200/t.

Zimbabwe engineer helps Mongolia’s gold diggers Development workers do not necessarily have to come from the West. A mining expert from Zimbabwe is helping improve the lives of small-scale miners in Mongolia.

Boroo Gold gets permission to resume heap leach operations Toronto-based Centerra Gold has received regulatory approval to resume heap leach operations at its Boroo mine, where operations were suspended in June, 2009, following charges of impropriety by the Mongolian government on issues such as record keeping, land use, and operational procedures.

Peabody is invited to cooperate in developing the West Tsankhi Erdenes Tavantolgoi , which has started to develop the Tavantolgoi’s “second” mine known as West Tsankhi , taken next step to progress its operation. The company’s sent to the Peabody Energy the proposal to cooperate in developing the West Tsankhi as a contract miner.

Petro Matad extends exploration period for XX block for 5 years Petro Matad has said it will spend up to US$47 million on exploration programmes on the XX block in Mongolia over the next five years. This comes as the Mongolian authorities extended the exploration period under the production sharing contract (PSC) for the block. Work at block XX has up until now focused on the DavsanTolgoi target, which disappointed last year.

Nippon Steel, Sumitomo Metal to expand Australia port Nippon Steel Corporation (“Nippon Steel”) and Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. (“Sumitomo Metals”) have announced that they have decided to invest to expand capacity at Cape Lambert by 70 million tons per year, along with the replacement of existing port facilities (“Port Expansion”), which are jointly operated with Rio Tinto group (“Rio Tinto”) in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Anglo American to Cut Coking Coal Output - Executive Anglo American PLC plans to reduce coking coal output in the coming months as it reviews existing operations and projects in the face of weak prices and high costs, the miner’s coking coal chief said Wednesday as he warned industry-wide cuts will continue to deepen.

How depressing is Australia’s official 2013 iron ore and coking coal chart The commodities outlook of the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics, the Australian government’s official forecaster, is not nearly as upbeat as many producers’ own predictions. In its latest quarterly overview BREE forecasts that in 2013, the average contract price for FOB Australia iron ore is set to decrease 20% to US$101 a tonne down from an expected average of $126 a tonne this year.

Proposal for controlling coal output may hardly turn into reality in China Fourteen of China’s largest coal groups, including China Shenhua, China coal energy and Shanxi coking coal Group, issued a joint statement on August 30th 2012, proposing that all of China’s coal miners appropriately control production in order to stabilize the domestic market against the lackluster demand. Insiders consider it unlikely for Chinese miners to control their production spontaneously given by the huge cost pressures involved.

Rio comes up tops in Transparency International report Mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have come up tops in a recent report by anticorruption group Transparency International, placing second and third respectively out of 105 largest publicly traded companies, with Norway’s Statoil taking the highest ranking.

Candidates for strategically important deposits: Part II An appendix to the State Great Khural Decree No.27 of 2007 refers to 39 deposits which might qualify to be classified as strategically important deposits if they fulfil certain criteria. These are known as candidate deposits. Our July issue gave general information on 13 of them, and this month we cover another 13 deposits. We do not give comprehensive details, but mention present ownership of the mines and give an idea of how these are working at the moment.