According to Vedomosti, the consortium's intention to develop the Tavan Tolgoi coal field in the Gobi Desert, with estimated reserves of 6.5 billion metric tons of coking coal, was confirmed by an executive of the Severstal steelmaker while a representative of the Renova asset management group declined to comment.
A representative of En+ Group owned by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska told the paper that the Mongolian side viewed positively the consortium's proposals.
At the same time, the Mongolian government has yet to determine its project requirements and it is not yet clear whether it will issue a license for the entire mine or for separate sections, the paper said.
In any case, competition is going to be tough as major global companies, such as Vale, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Xstrata and China's Shenhua Energy are also keen to take part in the tender, the paper reported.
