SouthGobi Resources has made allocations under private placements as announced on June 22 with CITIC Merchant Co Ltd and Swiss Life Gestion Privee as investors for the issue of new common shares in the company. The investors have agreed to subscribe for 55 million new shares for aggregate gross proceeds of up to approximately US$31.6 million.

Mongolian coal miner Sharyn Gol has commissioned its new coal wash plant next to its producing coal mine in Sharyn Gol city, Darkhan province. The plant, which has the capacity to annually wash 600,000 tonnes of raw coal, enables Sharyn Gol to produce an export grade coal, as well as a premium coal product for the domestic industrial market.

Substantial shareholder in Aspire Mining, Spectral Investments Pty Ltd ATF The Lithgow Family Trust, has increased its interest in the company to 19.45% from 12.42% through participation in Aspire’s recent share placement.

Aspire Mining has raised Aus$4.396 million in a capital raising priced at 2 cents with a one for two free attaching option with an exercise price of 3 cents and a two-year term.

Erdene Resource Development Corp’s non-brokered financing is oversubscribed and as a result the company has increased the amount of the financing to $1.5 million. The company closed the first tranche of $1.15 million and expects to close the final tranche before mid-June.

Prophecy Development Corp, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Red Hill Mongolia LLC, has closed the sale of substantially all of its mining and transportation equipment from the company’s Ulaan Ovoo coal mine and received a total of approximately US$2.34 million.

Mongolian Investment Banking Group (MIBG) says that Canadian explorer Kincora Copper is well positioned to benefit from the improvement in relations between the mining industry and the authorities in Mongolia. This statement was made by MIBG in an updated research note on the company last week.

The development of the underground mine at Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia has taken a significant step forward with the signing of the Oyu Tolgoi Underground Mine Development and Financing Plan by the Government of Mongolia, Turquoise Hill Resources and Rio Tinto. The Plan addresses the key outstanding shareholder issues and sets out an agreed basis for the funding of the project.

The signing of the underground mine development and financing plan has attracted favourable comments from foreign companies with exploration projects in Mongolia as well as from mining commentators.

India has announced a credit line of US$1 billion to Mongolia to expand its economic capacity and infrastructure. This forms part of a decision to upgrade the relationship between the two countries from ‘Comprehensive’ to ‘Strategic Partnership’.

Erdene Resource Development Corp intends to undertake a non-brokered private placement to raise up to $1 million and has engaged the services of Altus Securities to act as advisor on behalf of the company. Net proceeds will be used to advance the Altan Nar Gold-Polymetallic Project and for general working capital purposes.

Erdene Resource Development Corp has closed its non-brokered private placement financing with Teck Resources Ltd for gross proceeds of $392,857. The net proceeds will be used for exploration of the company’s Teck-Alliance projects in Mongolia.

Prophecy Development Corp, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Red Hill Mongolia LLC, has entered into a purchase agreement with an arm's-length party in Mongolia to sell substantially all of its mining and transportation equipment at the company’s Ulaan Ovoo mine for total proceeds of approximately Can$2.4 million subject to various currency exchange rates.

Aspire Mining’s rail subsidiary Northern Railways has received a formal letter from the Mongolian Government confirming that a multi-departmental working group has been established to negotiate a rail concession for the Erdenet to Ovoot Railway. The letter was received from the Mongolian Investment Agency, which is the body charged with negotiating concession agreements, and is in accordance with a Cabinet resolution.

Drilling by Xanadu Mines at the Oyut Ulaan Copper-Gold Project has delivered encouraging results which increase the scale and potential of the project. Drilling extended known near-surface high-grade mineralization at Diorite Hill, discovered shallow high-grade mineralization at Hulan and discovered a new porphyry centre at Temee.

Aspire Mining and Noble Group have increased their interest in the Nuurstei Coking Coal Project in northern Mongolia from 60% to 90% at a cost of US$201,500. This follows a recent coal geology report that established an exploration target of between 15 million and 25 million tonnes for Nuurstei.

Kincora Copper is set to begin its 2015 exploration program at the Bronze Fox Copper Project. The company is planning surface exploration on a number of targets across the site with the program to be covered by existing cash reserves.

Khan Resources regrets to announce the passing of chairman Jim Doak who passed away at his hotel in Ulaanbaatar awaiting a flight home to Canada following the completion of a second series of meetings with representatives of the Government of Mongolia.

Turquoise Hill Resources has completed the divestment of a portion of the company’s stake in SouthGobi Resources to Novel Sunrise Investments Limited (NSI) for approximately Can$17 million. Half of the aggregate purchase price, about Can$8.5 million, was received by the company at closing and the balance n is payable on the first anniversary of the closing of the transaction.

THE Ekhgoviin Chuluu Joint Venture between Aspire Mining and Noble Group has planned its 2015 exploration program for the Nuurstei Coking Coal project in northern Mongolia. The program will focus on confirming coal seam continuity and coal quality across the tenement and enable compilation of a JORC-compliant resource statement.