First quarter saw Ivanhoe sales of 3.5 million at Ovoot Tolgoi

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First quarter saw Ivanhoe sales of 3.5 million at Ovoot Tolgoi

Posted by mongoliaonline 295 days ago (http://feedproxy.google.com)

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX:IVN) announced Friday that its SouthGobi Energy Resources (TSX:SGQ) had coal sales of $3.5 million from its Ovoot Tolgoi mine in southern Mongolia during the first quarter of 2009.

Coal mined from Ovoot Tolgoi made up about 127,000 tons of coal sold to customers in China.

Other details found in the quarterly report indicated that during Q1’09 Ivanhoe Mines spent $37.4 million in exploration and development activities, compared to $57.3 million in Q1’08. In Q1’09, Ivanhoe Mines’ exploration activities were largely focused in Mongolia and Australia.

Ivanhoe’s Ovoot Tolgoi site in southern Mongolia’s Gobi region is 45 kilometres north of Mongolia’s border with China.

Officials noted that SouthGobi’s Q1’09 sales were impacted by difficulties in expediting the movement of its coal shipments across the Mongolia-China border due to sporadic openings at the Ceke crossing.

The border crossing operated only five days a week, on dayshift, during January and February this year, greatly limiting the volume of coal that SouthGobi was able to sell to customers in China. As a result, SouthGobi curtailed production to a dayshift in January 2009. This was followed by a mine shut down on February 24, although crews continued loading stockpiled coal into customer’s trucks.

In March 2009, the border point began operating eight hours a day, seven days a week, which enabled the shipment of more than 115,000 tonnes of coal during the month.

SouthGobi expects to be in a position to resume mining operations at Ovoot Tolgoi in the near future if the border crossing maintains its current openings. Further, SouthGobi is in talks with the Mongolian Government to keep the border open 24 hours a day year-round.

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