Ivanhoe Mines and Asia Gold have obtained Mongolian Government approval for the Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment report (DEIA) for the Ovoot Tolgoi coal project.

The former Nariin Sukhait coal project has been renamed Ovoot Tolgoi to differentiate Ivanhoe Mines" coal exploration and development project in Mongolia"s South Gobi Province from the adjoining Nariin Sukhait coal mine owned by a Mongolian-Chinese joint venture company, MAK/Qinhua.

Ivanhoe Mines' Mongolian subsidiary, Southgobi Sands, filed the DEIA as a first step in initiating the formal process for obtaining a mining licence for the development of a surface open-pit coal mine at Ovoot Tolgoi. Southgobi Sands will now formally file for a mining licence in order to start development and operation. According to the Minerals Law, mining licences in Mongolia are granted for a 30-year term, with accompanying rights to two 20-year extensions.

Ovoot Tolgoi, in the south-west corner of the Omnogovi Aimag (South Gobi Province), is the company's most advanced coal project. It is within Gurvantes Soum township, 320km south-west of the provincial capital of Dalanzadgad. Ovoot Tolgoi is 45km north of the Mongolia-China border.

Current in-place coal resources at Ovoot Tolgoi are about 150 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources and an additional 29 million tonnes of inferred resources.