Tavan Tolgoi deal restarts

Earlier today (9^th of December), Ts.Dashdorj, Mongolian Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry and other officials entered into hammering out a new deal with a delegation from China's biggest coal producer Shenhua Group.

Ts.Dashdorj led the Tavan Tolgoi working group, which also included  including Road and Transport Minister D.Ganbat and Minister of Environment and Tourism D.Oyunkhorol. On the agenda was coal production at the giant mine, export costs, the rail link connecting the mine directly to customers in China and the construction of a power plant.

Shenhua Energy,  a subsidiary of the Shenhua Group, has been selected as part of the investment consortium along with Japan's Sumitomo Corporation and the Mongolian Mining Corporation. It will be their responsibility  to develop and operate the mine. Located in the South Gobi desert and with reserves estimated at 7.4 billion tonnes, Tavan Tolgoi, is home to the world’s largest high-quality coking coal deposit. Coking coal is  used in steelmaking, which is why it is of such interest to the Chinese.

The Shenhua Group expressed its interest in investing in Tavan Tolgoi to the new Government of Mongolia, following the June election.