(EnergyAsia, February 15 2012, Wednesday) — Canadian mining firm SouthGobi Resources said it has commissioned and started-up a dry coal-handling plant at its Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine in southern Mongolia.

With an annual capacity to process nine million tonnes of run-of-mine coal, the plant includes a 300-tonne-capacity dump hopper, which will receive ROM coal to feed a rotary breaker and screens that will size coal to a maximum of 50 millimetres and reject oversize ash.

SouthGobi president and CEO, Alexander Molyneux, said the plant will improve the quality and product consistency of its coal output.

“It represents the first step towards more integrated processing at Ovoot Tolgoi, which will create more value than mining and selling raw coal,” he said.

The company said it plans to upgrade the plant later this year by adding dry air separation as well as covered load-out conveyors with fan stackers to transfer processed coals to stockpiles that will enable blending.

Listed on the main exchanges of Toronto and Hong Kong, SouthGobi Resources is focused on exploring and developing its Permian-age metallurgical and thermal coal deposits in Mongolia’s South Gobi region. While its flagship mine, Ovoot Tolgoi, now produces and sells coal to China, the company is planning to supply a wide range of coal products to other markets in Asia.

The company said it sold more than four million tonnes of coal in 2011, 58% more than it did in 2010. It produced around 4.57 million tonnes in 2011, up 64% from a year earlier.

As of December 2010, SouthGobi said Ovoot Tolgoi had total proven and probable surface coal reserves estimated at 106.8 million tonnes, with 59% of that classified in the proven reliability or assurance category and the rest in the probable category.