Mongolia's coking coal exploration steps up

摘要

At the same time, China is less than two months away from completing a 400km section of rail from the border to the steel centre of jiayuguan and talks are underway for the final 40km link from border to mine. Plans are afoot elsewhere for a massive infrastructure injection to link by rail the Tavan Tolgoi coking coal resource - with the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold assets en route -into Mongolia's capital Baotou to replace the existing trucking network. International mining companies as diverse as CVRD, Ivanhoe Mines, QGX, Shenhua and itochu are finally taking an active interest in the country's metalurgical coal assets which, thanks to the rocketing prices of the last 18 months, have now become viewed as viable, indeed essential, projects.