The government of Mongolia has shortlisted the bidders for the development of the country's Tavan Tolgoi project, which also includes the world's largest untouched coking coal deposit.
According to company releases and a statement by Mongolian state entity Erdenes MGL, the world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal, Brazilian mining giant Vale, diversified Swiss miner Xstrata, largest global private sector coal producer US-based Peabody Energy, an international consortium and a consortium of Chinese energy firm Shenhua and Japan's Mitsui & Co. are among six bidders shortlisted to develop Mongolia's Tavan Tolgoi mine.
Members of the South Korea dominated international bidding group, led by state body Korea Resources, include POSCO, utility firm KEPCO, trading firm LG Corp. and Daewoo International as well as Russian Railways, Japanese trading houses Itochu Corp., Sumitomo Corp., Marubeni Corp. and Sojitz Corp.
Tavan Tolgoi harbors estimated reserves of 6 billion mt of coal, including the world's largest untouched deposit of coking coal. The gigantic deposit is in Mongolia's South Gobi region with six coal fields. Tsankhi, the main one, contains vast coking coal resources. Billions of dollars are needed to develop the reserves with no direct estimations made yet.