Prime Minister S. Batbold told a forum organized by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange during his recent visit there that Mongolia plans to raise up to USD1 billion through a sovereign bond offering in the fourth quarter, and is also moving ahead with plans to list publicly owned mining, energy and infrastructure assets, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal Asia. The Government hasn”t determined which assets will be listed, a matter that requires parliamentary approval.

Though Mongolian officials said a listing venue hasn”t been decided, Batbold said that “Hong Kong is a natural choice for us in terms of funding and expertise.” He said Hong Kong was the “best gateway” to Mongolia“s largest trading partner, mainland China.

Batbold has previously laid out a plan to list three companies holding state-owned assets: one for mining assets, another for energy and a third for infrastructure. D. Zorigt, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, opened up the possibility for other mining listings as well, saying that the Government might also list individual state-owned mineral assets and mining projects. “We always thought it wasn”t a good idea to have all our mining assets in one basket,” Zorigt said.

Batbold confirmed his government”s intention to maintain control of the rights to the Tavan Tolgoi coking-coal mining project and to subcontract its development to outside companies. The decision effectively dashes any hope that foreign mining companies would be the main beneficiaries from extracting the deposit’s 6.5 billion metric tons of coking coal. The Prime Minister said the situation for Tavan Tolgoi was different from that for Oyu Tolgoi, since the Government itself owns the rights to Tavan Tolgoi.