Mongolia cancels Tavan Tolgoi’s $1 billion IPO plan

Mongolia has cancelled an executive order to fund its giant Tavan Tolgoi coal project through an international initial public offering (IPO), citing “political distortions” and the current dire state of global financial markets.

Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi (ETT), the state-owned company that holds the license to the deposit, had been working with an adviser for preparations of the planned IPO, which included a listing in the Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX).

The stock market launch, which could have raised more than $1 billion, was meant to help fund the massive project and related transportation infrastructure to deliver 30 million tonnes of coking coal a year to markets in China and beyond.

The cancelled plan was at least the third effort to raise money to develop the Tavan Tolgoi mine after international partnerships failed in 2011 and 2015. Mongolian lawmakers in 2018 approved a plan to sell up to 30% of Tavan, which is the country’s second-largest mining investment after Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold-silver operation.

Tavan Tolgoi, which means “five hills” is located near Mongolia’s southern border with China. It has estimated reserves of more than 7 billion tonnes of coal, more than one-third of which is high-grade hard coking coal, according to its website.