Australian miners are set to emerge
with a strong presence in Mongolia. PricewaterhouseCoopers global head of mining Tim Goldsmith, who was in Mongolia
for the Discover Mongolia mining conference, has told The Australian that
several Australian miners were reviewing options to diversify into the country.

Mongolia has long been seen as
having good resources that have been underexplored and it has long been
identified as a nation to contend with, particularly given its proximity to
China. “There were a heap of Canadian and Australian companies at the
conference, looking at new opportunities or discussing taking their existing
assets further,” Goldsmith said. “It”s clearly an underexplored
location, with lots of riches to be found and with the exception of Rio Tinto, none of the big players are there in any substance at this
stage and as certainty grows in the country, big diversified miners will look
there.”

Goldsmith said plenty of juniors
would also be vying for a position in Mongolia. “Australian companies are
nothing if not entrepreneurial and there will always be someone taking a new
frontier that others haven”t. Several of those companies were in Mongolia
looking at new options.”