Asia-Pacific

Mongolia resumes coal shipment to China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-16 19:55

ULAN BATOR - Coal shipment from Tavan Tolgoi, a coal mine in southern Mongolia, to China resumed, local media reported Monday.

The Mongolian government suspended, on grounds of environmental damage, coal trucking operation of Mongolian Mining Corporation, a private company listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange, on the road from the Tavan Tolgoi area, in South Gobi desert of Mongolia, on April 20 .

The government asked the company to build "paved road" from the mine to border and improve safety and environmental standards as the company had hauled the coal to the border on 1,000-meter-wide dirt roads.

On Saturday, the government lifted the ban on coal delivery after the company made some improvement of the dirt roads, according to local reports.

Khaltmaa Battulga, minister of road, transportation and construction and urban planning, said earlier that no coal will be delivered from the mine until the company builds "paved road."

However, Battulga's remarks were criticized by some cabinet ministers as coal tax provides a big chunk of the government revenue.