Erdene sees Mongolia gold mine anchoring future district

Canada’s Erdene Source Advancement ( TSX: ERD) is functioning to transform its brand-new Bayan Khundii open-pit cash cow in Mongolia right into the support of a future minerals area that will certainly someday create numerous steels, chief executive officer Peter Akerley states.

Erdene poured first gold at Bayan Khundii in September— concerning ten years after the initial expedition opening was pierced– and anticipates to attain nameplate manufacturing by the end of the month. The procedure has actually been created to refine 650,000 tonnes of ore and create 85,000 oz. of gold annually.

” We see Bayan Khundii as a structure to construct out a brand-new multi-mine, multi-commodity area,” Aekerley informed MINING.COM sis magazine The North Miner in a meeting Thursday. “It has remarkable area for development. Possibly we can also include a stack leach center to increase the plant.”

The Bayan Khundii landmark highlights structure energy in Mongolia’s gold industry and matches a copper market centred around Rio Tinto’s (ASX, NYSE,, LSE: RIO) Oyu Tolgoi mine that’s pressing the nation in the direction of mid-tier manufacturer condition in Asia.

Found concerning 980 kilometres southwest of the Mongolian funding, Ulaanbaatar, and much less than 200 kilometres from the Chinese boundary, Bayan Khundii is organized within a large hydrothermal modification system.

Although they are specified as various down payments, Bayan Khundii and the close-by Dark Steed and Ulaan targets “are all one big hydrothermal system,” Akerley states. “We are considering 10 or 12 kilometres of interconnected frameworks where we are mapping gold mineralization.”

High quality

Bayan Khundii flaunts among the highest possible gold qualities worldwide. It has actually confirmed and possible gets of 3.8 million tonnes rating 3.8 grams gold per tonne and 1.7 grams silver for consisted of steel of 464,900 oz. gold and 220,500 oz. silver, according to an August 2023 source.

Present gets offer a six-year mine life– a number that the firm is functioning to expand, having actually recognized greater than 20 leads in the area. These consist of the Zuun Mod molybdenum-copper job and the Tereg Uul copper target, simply kilometres from Oyu Tolgoi.

Erdene’s Mongolian device is intending to invest concerning $9 million on expedition in 2026, Akerley states. That’s three-way the 2025 budget plan.

” There’s a considerable reduced dangling fruit right around the pit,” he states. “The pit was specified at $1,800 gold. To the west, with the greater gold cost and with expedition, we see substantial expedition possibilities– probably to the song of 150,000 to 200,000 oz. within open-pittable midsts.”

Joint endeavor

Bayan Khundii is run by Erdene Mongol, the firm’s 50-50 joint endeavor with state-owned Mongolian Mining Company (MMC). Erdene and its companion invested concerning $115 million to construct the mine and its handling plant, which with each other utilize concerning 500 individuals.

Selecting MMC as a companion “had not been simply to bring mining knowledge and cash,” Akerley states. “They become part of an empire that brings all the aspects you would certainly require to construct a mineral area, and they are lined up with us because reasoning. Their sis firm generated a high-voltage line 240 kilometres from the Chinese boundary accessing the internal Mongolian power supply. You would not do that for a six-year mine life.”

Concerning 35 kilometres eastern of Bayan Khundii rests Zuun Mod, which Akerley calls “probably the biggest untaught molybdenum copper job in Asia.”

Zuun Mod holds 271 million determined and suggested tonnes rating 0.06% molybdenum and 0.06% copper for consisted of steel of 334 million pound. molybdenum and 384 million pound. copper, according to a September 2025 source. It likewise has actually presumed sources of 269 million tonnes rating 0.05% molybdenum and 0.06% copper for consisted of steel of 300 million pound. molybdenum and 351 million pound. copper.

” With concerning 630 million pound. of molybdenum, at existing rates we are remaining on concerning $10 billion of steel sitting,” Akerley states. Zuun Mod “likewise has a copper porphyry exploration that we will certainly remain to discover. I can not state specifically the day, [but] that will certainly be a mine in the future, and a large molybdenum provider right into China.”

Copper belt

A rock hound by training, Akerley initially took a trip to Mongolia when the previous communist nation open up to international financial investment in the late 1990s.

He aspired to discover what he assumed was among the wonderful copper belts worldwide.

” Perhaps luckily, the market involved a collapsing stop in 1998-99 because of the Eastern economic dilemma and individuals acquired their procedures for expedition,” he states. “That provided me a chance to choose financiers to discover Mongolia.”

After Akerley created a team of exclusive financiers in 2002, Erdene went public in 2004. The supply, which has greater than increased this year, climbed 3.8% to C$ 7.58 Friday mid-day in Toronto, providing the firm a market price of concerning C$ 467 million ($ 338 million).

” It’s been heads down, systematic expedition that’s permitted us to uncover big copper-gold down payments in Mongolia,” he states. “It took a little bit of time, however we go to a factor where I can state we discovered what we went trying to find. We have manufacturing and there’s even more to find.”