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.

Pursuant to Mongolian Parliament Resolutions-2008 Resolution No. 40, 2010 Resolution 39, Erdenes TT is allowed to cooperate with a contract miner for a specific period, in particular, in early-stage of developing a mine.  Therefore, Erdenes TT sent to the Peabody Energy the invitation to cooperate as a contract miner yesterday.  Reason to choose Peabody Energy initially is its position in the global coal mining industry and its effort using the best environment-friendly technology in its operation. Two parts may start the discussion on cooperating in developing the mine in next week.

The bidding for the Strategic Investors has been suspended for short term, however, Mongolian government was discussing with the foreign companies including Peabody, Russian consortium and Shenhua. Peabody was included in this bidding companies list. But a contract miner is other than Strategic Investor. Further the opportunity to attend the discussion for the Strategic Investors still remains open to Peabody Energy.

Peabody Energy is still not chosen as a contract miner finally, it is only invited to the discussion to cooperate in developing the west side of the Tavantolgoi mine. If the discussion is unsuccessful, next company is invited, according to the Erdenes TT. In anycase, Erdenes TT is adhering to policy to choose a third neighbor country’s company which has acknowledged by its operation around the world.

The decision was made by CEO for the Erdenes TT independently to maintain the company’s normal operation and capital raising through IPOs in domestic and international stock exchanges. On the other hand, the Government discussion with the Strategic Investors is becoming uncertain.

By the way, Enebish B., CEO for the Erdenes TT, has proposed a few versions to develop the West Tsankhi. One of them is to cooperate with a contract miner in extracting the West Tsankhi mine as the East Tsankhi’s term. This version is more efficient for the company, according to the Erdenes TT.