www.unuudur.com: The latest news of Mongolia in the World

(Reuters) – A moratorium on new mining exploration licenses in Mongolia could be lifted during the spring session of parliament, Mongolia’s mines minister said, as the Asian country works to lure back foreign investment after a slump last year. A ban on the issuing and processing of licenses has been in place since June 2010, [...]

Mongolia took a step closer to the initial public offering of the world’s largest untapped coking coal deposit on Thursday, shortlisting four global banks to manage the country’s biggest ever share sale. The development and sale of shares in the Tavan Tolgoi coal field is a major project for impoverished Mongolia and timely for global [...]

Merger and acquisitions activity in the global mining sector is expected to accelerate in 2011, fuelled by strong commodity prices and repaired balance sheets, advisory and accountancy firm Ernst & Young said on Wednesday. Early signs that bank lending may recover this year will give a further boost to the level of deals this year, [...]

Any move by Chinese state-owned Chinalco to take a stake in the giant Oyu Tolgoi copper project in Mongolia would need to be approved by the government, Mongolian Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold said on Wednesday. Batbold said Chinese investment in Mongolia had been welcome, but he said any change to the Oyu Tolgoi partnership agreement [...]

Mongolia’s prime minister said on Friday the country may issue a sovereign bond as early as the second half of this year. “We are still working on it. The latest is next year, but it might be in the second half of this year. We might come with a bond issue,” said Sukhbaatar Batbold, who [...]

BHP Billiton , the world’s biggest miner, plans to pour $80 billion into expansions over the next five years rather than chase ambitious takeovers, after nearly doubling first-half profits to a record on booming demand for iron ore and copper. The Anglo-Australian company , flush with cash, also said it would more than double its [...]

Mongolia is expected to appoint banks by next week to manage an IPO worth up to $5 billion for the world’s largest untapped coking coal deposit, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. More than 150 bankers from a dozen Wall Street, European and Asia-Pacific investment banks made pitches to the Mongolian government over [...]

London copper rallied above $10,000 early on Monday, while Shanghai metal rose 1 percent after a surprise jump in Chinese copper imports and hopes of continued restocking by the world’s top consumer. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 1.1 percent to $10,075 a tonne by 0747 GMT, after having touched a record high [...]

Resource-hungry Asian states are locking horns with steelmaker ArcelorMittal and miner Vale to develop the world’s largest untapped coking coal deposit in Mongolia, as they scramble for raw materials to produce steel. China, Japan and South Korea are scouring the world — from Africa, India, Australia and South America — and snapping up iron ore [...]

State-run Korea Resources Corp said on Tuesday its consortium had submitted a bid to develop Mongolia’s huge Tavan Tolgoi coal mine, regarded as one of the world’s biggest untapped reserves. The group, formed of nine Korean firms, two Russian firms and four Japanese companies, is competing against a consortium led by Mitsui & Co (8031.T: [...]

Mitsui & Co, Japan’s second-biggest trading house, has submitted a proposal for a tender to develop Mongolia’s huge Tavan Tolgoi mine and to buy coal from the project, a company spokesman said. The spokesman declined to provide further details. Industry sources familiar with the matter said Mitsui had partnered with China’s state-run Shenhua Group and [...]

Ivanhoe Mines said on Thursday it raised $1.18 billion through a rights offering that will help fund the initial development of its massive Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project in southern Mongolia. Oyu Tolgoi is one of the world’s biggest untapped copper-gold deposits. Its development was delayed for years as Ivanhoe pursued complicated royalty negotiations [...]

The LSE said on Tuesday it had struck a partnership with the MSE to deliver full trading and surveillance capabilities as well as training and advice on market rules and the introduction of a Mongolian index.

Floods devastating huge areas of Australia’s eastern seaboard, including the nation’s third-largest city, look set to be the costliest natural disaster ever in a country known for climatic extremes, Treasurer Wayne Swan said on Monday. The floods in the major resource state of Queensland, which have swept through an area the size of South Africa, [...]

Canada’s Khan Resources has formally sought international arbitration against the Mongolia government for not reinstating its miner’s licenses at the Dornod uranium deposit in northeastern Mongolia. Khan has sought over $200 million in compensation for losses and damages in the arbitration which will take place under the arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on [...]

Miners bidding for Mongolia’s Tavan Tolgoi, which could become one of the world’s largest coal mines, have to submit a proposal for upfront payment to win the deal, the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday. Miners including China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd (1088.HK) (601088.SS), Peabody Energy Corp (BTU.N), Japan’s Mitsui Anglo-America, Brazil’s Vale SA [...]

Itochu Corp (8001.T), Sumitomo Corp (8053.T) and two Japanese trading firms will jointly bid for rights to a large Mongolian coal mine, along with a South Korean consortium and a state-owned Russian company, the Nikkei business daily said. The Tavan Tolgoi mine in southeast Mongolia is said to host untapped deposits of more than 6 [...]

Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO) said on Friday it would raise up $1.2 billion in a strategic rights offering to fund the development of the first phase of its massive Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project in southern Mongolia. The rights offering is structured so that every 100 rights can be exchanged for 15 common shares in [...]

Resource-hungry Chinese mining firms are set to be more creative in their overseas acquisition strategies and could cast their nets wider in 2011 in a bid to overcome resistance against full-takeovers.

Ultimately, it was all about money. With a desperate need to secure financing for its flagship project in Mongolia, Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. and Rio Tinto Ltd. have set aside their differences and struck a deal to move the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project rapidly into production in 2012. Construction work at Oyu Tolgoi is moving fast, [...]

Mongolia’s huge Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine moved a step closer to getting built after Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO) and partner Rio Tinto (RIO.L) put aside an ongoing spat on Wednesday and agreed on a new financing plan. Ivanhoe Mines said Rio, its largest stakeholder, has agreed to provide up to $1.8 billion in interim financing to [...]

Ivanhoe Mines is likely to put itself on the block in a two-step process, which will first see it sell or spin off all its assets except its stake in the huge Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia, according to a source familiar with the matter. After disposing of all of the assets except for [...]

Copper rose on Thursday as support from persistent supply concerns and a bout of upbeat US data offset investor worries about the potential of sovereign debt problems spreading in the euro-zone. Copper for three-months delivery on the London Metal Exchange closed at $8,340 a tonne, up from Wednesday’s last bid of $8,250. The metal, used [...]

Mongolia’s decision to revoke hundreds of gold mining licenses last week has alarmed investors but the government’s efforts to clean up its mining sector could have long term benefits, the head of a foreign fund said. Mongolia’s energy and mining minister Dashdorj Zorigt announced late last week that 254 gold mining licenses would be suspended [...]

Ivanhoe Mines has plenty of options as it fights a possible “creeping” takeover by Rio Tinto, its founder said, noting sovereign wealth funds were keen on Mongolia, where Ivanhoe is developing a huge mine. Robert Friedland — who is also executive chairman, CEO and a major shareholder — told a conference in London there were [...]

Khan Resources said on Friday that it would use all available legal means, including international arbitration, to fight a decision by Mongolian authorities not to reinstate the Canadian miner’s licenses at the Dornod uranium deposit. Toronto-based Khan said Mongolia’s Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) had published a notice in Mongolian newspapers saying it would not reinstate [...]

Landlocked Mongolia sits on vast quantities of untapped mineral wealth and analysts say it could be one of the fastest growing economies of the next decade, as well as a key investment target for global mining giants. The $5 billion Oyu Tolgoi project, jointly owned by Toronto-listed Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO) and the Mongolian government, will [...]

China’s increasing reluctance to supply the rest of the world with rare earths is whipping up a gold rush-like frenzy to find new producers of the elements needed to manufacture everything from high-tech weapons to mobile phones. Producers and would-be producers are forging new supply pacts with consumers, and investors are scooping up shares in [...]

Khan Resources Inc said the Mongolian appellate court ruled in its favor regarding its mining license and upheld an administrative court decision, which was contested by the Nuclear Energy Agency. In July, the Capital City Administrative Court had said notices issued by the NEA meant to invalidate the mining license held by Khan’s subsidiary, Central [...]

Ivanhoe Mines said on Tuesday it has filed counter-claims against Rio Tinto (RIO.AX: Quote), in relation to an arbitration process that was launched by the Anglo-Australian miner earlier this year. Vancouver-based Ivanhoe and Rio are developing the nearly $5 billion Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project Mongolia. The long-delayed project finally got a go-ahead from Mongolian authorities [...]