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Mongolia Coal Railway will Link with Russia |
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Tuesday, 20 July 2010 15:25 |
Mongolian lawmakers have approved plans for a rail line linking with Russia to help tap large coal deposits in the south, the latest move in the long delayed project that will help make the poor but mineral-rich nation less dependent on exporting to China, Business Week reported. The Tavan Tolgoi coking coal deposit in the south Gobi region, estimated to have more than 6 billion metric tons (mt) of coal has attracted interest from 10 international mining companies including China Shenhua Energy, a Russian consortium led by Gazprom and Australia’s BHP Billiton.
Lawmakers voted nearly unanimously in favor of building the line and making it broad gauge so it could link up with Russia rail network. There were concerns that if the rail were standard Chinese gauge too much of the commodity would end up flowing to coal hungry China at bargain prices. China currently takes about two-thirds of Mongolia exports. The deposits are located about 200 km from the Chinese border.
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