Mongolia Says 6 Groups Still on List for Tavan Tolgoi Coal Mine

Mongolia hasn’t yet decided which of six foreign groups should develop Tavan Tolgoi, one of the world’s largest untapped coal deposits, an official said, refuting a report which said the shortlist was cut to three.

Discussions are still taking place about the contract for the central and western part of the site, Baterdene Ragchaa, a spokesman for Erdenes MGL LLC, the state-controlled owner of the deposit, said in a phone interview today.

The shortlist has been reduced to three, including Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU), a China Shenhua Energy Co.-Mitsui & Co. joint venture and a Russia-South Korea group, the Australian Financial Review reported in its Street Talk column today, without saying where it got the information.

The six groups also include ArcelorMittal (MT), Vale SA and Xstrata Plc. (XTA) Calls to ArcelorMittal spokesman Giles Read in London, Bill Steers in Chicago and spokeswoman Lynn Robbroeckx in London weren’t answered.

A decision on which companies will develop the deposit will be taken within four months, Erdene executive director Baasangombo Enebish said on March 5. The western and central area of Tavan Tolgoi holds more than 1 billion metric tons of coal, 68 percent of which can be used for steelmaking and the rest as fuel in power plants, Enebish said then.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Duce in Hong Kong at Jduce1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Amit Prakash at aprakash1@bloomberg.net

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