Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal hopeful Aspire Mining has been given an 18-month extension to complete the conditions precedent for its Erdenet to Ovoot rail concession, in Mongolia.
The conditions precedent included the completion of feasibility studies, environmental studies and permits, land use agreements, commercial agreements and funding.
The Erdenet to Ovoot railway is a critical component of the development of the Ovoot coking coal project, which hosts 255-million tonnes of coal reserves and can sustain production of ten-million tonnes a year over 21 years.
Aspire in January reported that initial feasibility studies into the Erdenet to Ovoot railway found that the project will require a capital investment of $1.25-billion for a 20-million-tonne-a-year single line servicing the proposed Ovoot coking coal project.
The feasibility study included two locomotive service centres and depots, as well as 11 bypass loops for the single-line track to be able to provide network capacity of 20-million tonnes a year.
There is also a total length of 10 km of tunnels across seven separate tunnel areas.
The entire rail line is expected to take about 60 months to build; however, Aspire noted that there was an opportunity to truck coal from Ovoot to a loading point prior to the full completion and commissioning of the rail line, subject to pricing and cost.
Aspire had until August 2018 to complete all conditions precedent for the railway development.