Negotiations with investors on the Tavan Tolgoi mine have been delayed due to issues involving the Government of Mongolia's debt to state-owned Chinese company Chalco.

The two sides are officially holding their fourth official Tavan Tolgoi discussion at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

Minister of Mongolia M.Enkhsaikhan spoke to journalists about the discussions that are taking place:

"During this period, we are working to submit three proposals and negotiations at the government level.

"First is an agreement regarding investment, second is the concession agreement regarding the construction of railway, and the third one is the cooperation agreement. 

"During the process of concluding an agreement, we delivered a list of 350 issues and have concluded an agreement with the consortium. In general, all issues have been agreed upon and we have taken a break at the third stage of negotiations to deal with one important issue. More clearly, the debt to Chalco from Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi. The responsibilities of the Chalco consortium have been taken on their own.

"The consortium has taken a break in order to clearly and more accurately study this issue.

"Today we are carrying out the fourth stage of negotiations. We do hope that this negotiation will lead us to final stage results.

"Today we have officially started negotiations and our side and the investor consortium are very close to having the same opinion and making a decision on one issue. However, a final decision has not been made yet. Besides resolving this issue, there are several precise issues such as the paperwork of the agreement. We have formed a working group to address it."

Source www.gogo.mn