Company type | Public company |
---|---|
TSX-V: SGQ SEHK: 1878 | |
Industry | Coal mining |
Founded | 2002Canada | in
Products | Coking Coal |
Services | Coal mining |
Revenue | US$73.084 million (2022) [1] |
US$13.572 million (2022) [1] | |
-US$30.419 million (2022) [1] | |
Total assets | US$181.359 million (2022) [1] |
Total equity | US$142.524 million (2022) [1] |
Number of employees | 360 (2022) [1] |
Subsidiaries | SGQ Coal Investment Pte. Ltd, SouthGobi Sands LLC, SouthGobi Resources (Hong Kong) Limited, SouthGobi Trading (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Inner Mongolia SouthGobi Energy Co., Ltd., Inner Mongolia SouthGobi Enterprise Co., Ltd., Inner Mongolia SouthGobi Mining Development Co., Ltd., Inner Mongolia SouthGobi Trading Co., Ltd., Wuhai SouthGobi Mining Resources Co., Ltd. [1] |
Website | https://www.southgobi.com |
SouthGobi Resources is a Canadian coal mining company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange. The company's primary asset is a coal mine and development projects of coal assets in Mongolia.
A proposed acquisition of the company by a Chinese state owned mining firm in 2012 was thwarted by resource nationalism in Mongolia. The blocked deal led to a chain of events that negatively affected the Mongolian economy for the rest of the decade. Quickly in response to the announced deal, Mongolia passed an investment review law in Mongolia (shortly repealed after enactment) that while only briefly in force stunted for years foreign investor confidence in the country, which had been a darling in emerging markets investment circles before 2012. [2]
After the blocked deal, SouthGobi would itself face an equally dramatic fall from grace as the Mongolian economy. By 2015, the company lost 98% of its once sky high $3 billion Canadian dollar market capitalization that had peaked in 2012. [3]
The company is publicly listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEX: 1878) and Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: SGQ). Its principal shareholders according to its 2018 annual report are the China Investment Corporation with 23.8%; Novel Sunrise with 17.0%, and Voyage Wisdom with 9.5%. Novel Sunrise is 100% controlled by China Cinda Asset Management. Both the China Investment Corporation and China Cinda Asset Management are central state owned enterprises of China.
The company was founded in 2002. SouthGobi listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2007 and Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2010.
In 2009, the China Investment Corporation funded a $500 million convertible debenture issued by SouthGobi. [4] In March 2010, $250 million of the convertible debenture was converted into SouthGobi common shares. This move lowered the interest held by Ivanhoe Mines (later renamed Turquoise Hill Resources) to 57.6%.
By 2012, Ivanhoe Mines had come under the influence of its largest shareholder Rio Tinto, which wanted to sell non-core assets, which included SouthGobi. [5] In the same year, Ivanhoe Mines attempted to sell its 57.6% of SouthGobi to Aluminum Corporation of China Limited (Chalco) for $889 million. [6] The attempt announced in April 2012 failed. Chalco called off the deal in September 2012 after estimating "chances for obtaining approval from the Mongolian government were slim". [7]
Negative public opinion in Mongolia based on resource nationalism opposed the sale. The masses did not want majority ownership by foreign state-owned enterprises of companies in their mining industry. [8] Harassment by the Mongolian government targeting SouthGobi and its personnel also took its toll. During and after the sale process, the Mongolian government jailed SouthGobi employees and suspended its mining license for several months. In October 2012, its chief legal counsel Sarah Armstrong was detained and prevented from leaving the country. The Mongolian government alleged the company management had bribed Mongolian state officials. [9] The allegations resulted in the shutdown and search of SouthGobi headquarters in Mongolia by a Mongolian anti-corruption agency. In May 2013 Justin Capla, another company executive, was prosecuted and later sentenced to prison for five years. [10] He was later pardoned by President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj in February 2015. [11]
The aggressive actions of the Mongolian government against SouthGobi succeeded in blocking the deal with Chalco but had the effect of terrifying foreign investors, resulting in a large slump in investment to Mongolia that continued for several years after 2012. [12]
SouthGobi would dramatically lose value after the blocked sale. The company had been valued at $3 billion Canadian dollars at its high point in 2012. [3]
In March 2015, Novel Sunrise Investments, a private Chinese firm from the Novel Group of companies, became SouthGobi's largest shareholder. [13] Furthermore, Novel Sunrise also appointed three members to SouthGobi's board. [13] Novel Sunrise also separately bought shares in a different company called Turquoise Hill Resources, which also owned shares in SouthGobi. [13]
In January 2020, SouthGobi LLC, a subsidiary of SouthGobi Resources, donated ₮ 80,000,000 to Manidbadar General Education School, a school in Noyon soum, Umnugovi province. [14]
In June 2021, SouthGobi's CEO was awarded the Mongolian Medal of Friendship, [15] and the company's VP of Public Relations was also awarded the title of Honored Lawyer of Mongolia. [16]
The company holds the Ovoot Tolgoi Mine and development projects at the Soumber Deposit and Zag Suuj Deposit.[ citation needed ]
Rio Tinto Group is a British-Australian multinational company that is the world's second largest metals and mining corporation. It was founded in 1873 when a group of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto, in Huelva, Spain, from the Spanish government. It has grown through a long series of mergers and acquisitions. Although primarily focused on extraction of minerals, it also has significant operations in refining, particularly the refining of bauxite and iron ore. It has joint head offices in London, England and Melbourne, Australia.
Robert Martin Friedland is an American-Canadian billionaire financier in the mining industry. Since the early 1980s, he has specialized in securing funding for the exploration and development of mineral and energy resources and technology ventures. He is the founder and chairman of his private, family-owned firm, Ivanhoe Capital Corporation, which is active in capital markets, focused on emerging markets. He is the founder and co-chairman of Ivanhoe Mines – a Canadian public company listed on the Toronto and OTCQX exchanges.
Aluminum Corporation of China Limited, is a state-owned multinational aluminium company headquartered in Beijing, People's Republic of China. It is a publicly-traded company, listed in Hong Kong and in Shanghai. In 2021, it was the world's largest aluminum producer, ahead of China Hongqiao Group, Rusal and Shandong Xinfa.
Tavan Tolgoi is one of the world's largest untapped coking and thermal coal deposits, located in the Ömnögovi Province in southern Mongolia. It has a total estimated resource of 6.4 billion tonnes, one quarter of which is high quality coking coal. It is divided into six sections: Tsankhi, Ukhaa Khudag, Bor tolgoi, Borteeg, and Southwest and Eastern coalfields. The Tsankhi section is the largest part, and is divided into East and West Tsankhi - these have had the most focus recently.
Mongolia Energy Corporation Limited (MEC) is a mining and energy development holding company operating in Mongolia and Xinjiang in northwestern China. It was incorporated in Bermuda and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. MEC became a constituent to the MSCI Hong Kong Index from June 2008.
The Oyu Tolgoi mine, also Oyuutolgoi, is a combined open pit and underground mining project in Khanbogd sum within the south Gobi Desert, approximately 235 kilometres (146 mi) east of the Ömnögovi Province capital Dalanzadgad. The site was discovered in 2001 and is being developed as a joint venture between Turquoise Hill Resources with 66% ownership and the Government of Mongolia with 34%. The mine began construction as of 2010 and shipped its first batch of copper on 9 July 2013.
The Nariin Sukhait or Ovoot Tolgoi mining complex is located in the Gurvan tes sum (district) of Ömnögovi Province in Southern Mongolia. The site is 25 km SE from sum center and 56 km north of Shivee Khüren - Ceke crossing point on the Mongolian-Chinese border.
China National Gold Group Corporation (中国黄金集团有限公司) is a centrally state owned Chinese gold corporation primarily engaged in the mining and refining of gold, silver, copper, and molybdenum.
Turquoise Hill Resources was a Canadian mineral exploration and development company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, and since December 2022, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto Group. The company was called Ivanhoe Mines until August 2, 2012 when a financing agreement was completed with Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto acquired full ownership of Turquoise Hill in December 2022.
Hugo T. Dummett (1940–2002) was a South African mineral-exploration geologist who is best known for his role in the discovery of the Ekati Diamond Mine in the Barren Lands of Canada's Northwest Territories. Dummett has been described as "the brains, the ideas and the energy" behind the discovery of Ekati, which led to the creation of a new Canadian diamond-mining industry.
Hunnu Coal Limited is a mining company that is incorporated in Australia for the purpose of acquiring and developing coal projects in Mongolia.
Khanbumbat Airport, also Oyu Tolgoi Airport, is an airport in Khanbogd, Ömnögovi, Mongolia. The airport's construction was funded by the adjacent Oyu Tolgoi mine. It is the second airport in passenger traffic in Mongolia after Buyant-Ukhaa International Airport. The airport serves nearly 100,000 passengers annually.
Mining is important to the national economy of Mongolia. Mongolia is one of the 29 resource-rich developing countries identified by the International Monetary Fund and exploration of copper and coal deposits are generating substantial additional revenue.
The Windfall tax or windfall profits tax in Mongolia was a taxation on the profits made by mining companies operating in Mongolia. It was implemented in 2006 and was the highest windfall profits tax in the world. It was a tax on unsmelted copper and gold concentrate that was produced in Mongolia. The tax was repealed in 2009 and phased out over two years. Repealing the 68% tax law was considered essential to enable foreign mining companies to invest in mineral resources development of Mongolia.
In Mongolia, copper mining is a major industry and source of income for the country. There are only two companies that produce copper concentrate, Erdenet Mining Corporation, a Mongolian-Russian joint venture, and the Oyu Tolgoi mine, a joint venture between Rio Tinto Group, Turquoise Hill Resources, and the Government of Mongolia. Until 2010 copper was Mongolia's largest export.
South32 Limited is a mining and metals company headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It was spun out of BHP Billiton on 18 May 2015. It is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with secondary listings on the Johannesburg and London Stock Exchanges.
Mongolian Mining Corporation (MMC) is a Mongolian coking coal producer listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It is the largest coal mining company in Mongolia, owning two coal mines located in the Gobi Desert, namely the Ukhaa Khudag mine and the Baruu Naran mine.
China Cinda Asset Management Co., Ltd. known as China Cinda or just Cinda is a Chinese merchant bank and asset management company. The corporation was founded as a state-owned enterprise and a bad bank for China Construction Bank in 1999. The bank received shares by debt-to-equity swap on non-performing loans. In 2010, the corporation became a "company limited by shares".
Taiyuan Coal Gasification (Group) Co., Ltd. is a Chinese state-owned coal mining conglomerate based in Taiyuan, Shanxi. The company was owned by State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of Shanxi Provincial People's Government. However, Shanxi SASAC granted fellow state-owned enterprise Jincheng Anthracite Mining Group (JAMG) to manage their stake since 2011.
Mongolia's relations with the International Monetary Fund became official on February 14, 1991 when Mongolia became a member.