The metallurgical and thermal coal at Tavan is contained in a sub-basin measuring around 10km by 10km and is located around 140km from Ivanhoe's Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold deposit. Ivanhoe said it is exploring the potential for the joint development of both projects.
Meantime Ivanhoe has identified thee major coal bearing basins within its large ground holding in Mongolia. Each is reportedly over 100km long and located in the South Gobi region near the border with China.
According to Ivanhoe, initial investigation showed the South Gobi region is the same Permian geologic age, scale and quality as the Bowen and Sydney Basins in Australia.
The most southerly basin was traced from an outcropping seam, which has a true thickness of 60m and is already being mined by a small private miner. Ivanhoe's land holdings completely surround the private tenement and it has traced the seam in both directions, intermittently for 120km.
Information on the other two basins was not disclosed.
Ivanhoe said it was assisted in its coal evaluation by consultant Norwest Corp and a team of Mongolian experts.
