President of Mongolia : visits Shivee Ovoo mine

During his working trip to Gobisumber aimag, President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga visited Shivee Ovoo coal mine on Sunday.

Situated in Shiveegobi soum of Gobisumber aimag, Shivee Ovoo mine supplies 28.3 percent of domestic coal consumption and provides more than half of coal usage of the IV Thermal Power Plant. In 2017, the mine extracted over 2.0 million tons of coal. However, the officials informed that the stripping process has been stagnated since 2010 and the mine will be unable to operate normally starting from mid-2019 without necessary upgrade of machinery and equipment.

Enkhtuvshin Tsedendamba, CEO of Shivee-Ovoo JSC, said 'The probable ore reserve of Shivee Ovoo deposit is estimated to be 2.7 billion tons. We have overperformed in 2016 and 2017, and plan to extract around 2.0 million tons in 2018. Although the company has been overperforming, the stripping process has been lagging behind since 2010. We have been trying to reduce the delay; however, the strip mining slowed down by around 1.0 million cubemeters due to depreciation of machinery and equipment in 2017. Total of 38 machinery and 40 equipments have expired. It is no longer possible to perform the required tasks with the outdated equipment. If the necessary upgrade cannot be completed soon, we will be unable to meet the target of 2018 and if it continues further, it will be difficult to operate normally by the end of 2019.'

After learning the pressing issues of the company, the President got au fait with lignite mining operations.

With a meeting with citizens of Gobisumber aimag, President Battulga wrapped up his working tour through eastern region of Mongolia. Since last Wednesday, the President met citizens in Khentii, Dornod, Sukhbaatar, Dornogobi and Gobisumber aimags. The head of state is to work in central region starting this week.