Ovoot Tolgoi Coal Mine

This article is part of the Global Coal Mine Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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Ovoot Tolgoi Coal Mine (Овоот Толгой, Нарийн Сухайтын нүүрсний уурхай) is an operating coal mine in Gurvan tes, Umnugobi Aimag, Mongolia.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Ovoot Tolgoi Coal Mine	Gurvan tes, Umnugobi Aimag, Mongolia	43.002222, 101.260556 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	2008	2037 (planned)

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
5	1.81	2024	Surface	Open Pit	93	60*	360

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
114	–	308.31	–	Bituminous	Met	Coal Plant

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Note: To access more comprehensive data on energy ownership, please visit the Global Energy Ownership Tracker.

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
SouthGobi Sands LLC [100.0%]	South Gobi Resources	Mongolia, Canada

Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
ROM	6.38	4.43	5.05	1.49	1.36	0.69	3.76	1.81	–

Note: The above sections were automatically generated and are based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker August 2026 release.

Ownership Tree

This ownership tree is part of the Global Energy Ownership Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Background

The Ovoot Tolgoi mine (Овоот Толгой), also known as the Nariin Sukhait mining complex (Нарийн Сухайт), is a metallurgical coal mine in South Gobi (Ömnögovi) Province, Mongolia. Mine owner South Gobi Resources commenced mining at Ovoot Tolgoi's Sunset Pit in April 2008 and commenced coal sales in September 2008. In August 2011, the Company commenced mining and sales at Ovoot Tolgoi's Sunrise Pit. The Ovoot Tolgoi Mine is covered by a single 9,308 hectare mining license and a corresponding permit to mine until 2037. According to the company's pre-feasibility report, the mine is designed to have an annual capacity of 8 million tonnes per annum, comprising 5.2 Mtpa from Sunset Field and 2.8 Mtpa from Sunrise Field.

According to South Gobi Resources, measured and indicated resources for the Ovoot Tolgoi Coal Deposit were estimated in 2016 at 302 million tonnes (Mt), including measured resources of 202 Mt and Indicated Resources of 100 Mt. An estimated 114 of the 302 Mt have been designated as reserves. In December 2024, SouthGobi filed updated NI 43-101 technical reports. Resources for the Sunrise Pit increased approximately 9.8% from 121.70 Mt (as of December 31, 2016) to 133.60 Mt, resources for the Sunset Pit decreased approximately 3.2% from 180.50 Mt to 174.71 Mt over the same period.

In July 2024, SouthGobi's Mongolian subsidiary entered into a Build-Operate-Transfer agreement with Tangshan Shenzhou Manufacturing Group Co., Ltd. for the construction and operation of a new dry coal separation system at the Ovoot Tolgoi Mine.

• Operator: South Gobi Sands LLC
• Owner: South Gobi Resources
• Location: Gurvan tes district, South Gobi (Ömnögovi) Province, Mongolia
• GPS Coordinates: 43.002222, 101.260556 (exact)
• Mine Status: Operating
• Production: 1.36 mtpa (2020) 6.07 million tonnes (2021)
• Total Resource:
• Total Reserves: 114 Mt
• Coal Type: Metallurgical
• Mine Size: 9,308 hectares
• Mine Type: Surface
• Start Year: 2008
• Source of Financing:

Coal Mine Boundaries and Methane Sources

Global Energy Monitor researchers have identified coal mine boundary/boundaries and potential sources of coal mine methane (CMM) for this mine. These research results can be used to drive CMM attribution and mitigation efforts, particularly when combined with remotely sensed methane plume locations and mine ownership data. Explore the results with the embedded map at the top of this page by clicking on the mine boundary polygon or the CMM placemarkers to reveal more details. A detailed description of this research can be found in Coal Mine Boundaries and Methane Sources. This data is also available as a downloadable companion dataset to the Global Coal Mine Tracker and the Global Methane Emitters Tracker.

Table SMP1: Coal mine boundaries and methane sources data

ID	Mine feature category	Mine feature subcategory	Description	Coordinates precision	Data source date
M0735.B1	mine boundary	surface	Ovoot tolgoi coal mine boundary	extracted	2025-12-17 00:00:00
M0735.B2	mine boundary	surface	Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine, Sunset open pit	extracted	2024-05-01 00:00:00
M0735.B3	mine boundary	surface	Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine, Sunrise open pit	extracted	2024-05-01 00:00:00

Table SMP2: Coal mine boundaries and methane sources data (continued)

Coal mine boundaries and methane sources were last researched for this mine on Dec 19, 2025

ID	Notes
M0735.B1	This mine operates under the subsoil land-use license MV-012726, as identified through the Ovoot Tolgoi Coal Mine 2023 Environmental Management Plan prepared by SouthGobi Sands LLC (“Овоот Толгой” уурхайн 2023 оны Байгаль орчны менежментийн төлөвлөгөө, Саусгоби Сэндс ХХК), page 6, https://www.archive.org/details/ovoot-tolgoi-coal-mine, 2023. The license was issued on September 20, 2007, and is valid until September 20, 2037. The boundary was extracted from the Opendata Lab Mongolia portal at https://web.archive.org/web/20251217205029/https://opendatalab.mn/mininglicense/12726 reported mine area is 9,283 hectares (93 square km); the approximate area of the extracted boundary is 93 square km.
M0735.B2	This polygon represents the Sunset Pit (open pit) at the Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine, as shown in the environmental management map (Figure 4-2, page 28) of the Ovoot Tolgoi Coal Mine 2023 Environmental Management Plan prepared by SouthGobi Sands LLC (“Овоот Толгой” уурхайн 2023 оны Байгаль орчны менежментийн төлөвлөгөө, Саусгоби Сэндс ХХК), accessed via https://www.archive.org/details/Coal_Mine_Environmental_Management_Plan, 2023. The extent of the Sunset Pit polygon was delineated from the 2023 plan map and imagery consistent with site conditions as of 2023. This open pit appears to overlap with part of the Nariin Sukhait Coal Mine, Mongolia, M0732 project area. The overlapping project areas are associated with different owners, with the Nariin Sukhait Coal Mine operated by Mongolyn Alt LLC and the Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine operated by SouthGobi Sands LLC. The approximate area of the resulting boundary is 2 square km.
M0735.B3	This polygon represents the Sunrise Pit (open pit) at the Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine, as shown in the environmental management map (Figure 4-2, page 28) of the Ovoot Tolgoi Coal Mine 2023 Environmental Management Plan prepared by SouthGobi Sands LLC (“Овоот Толгой” уурхайн 2023 оны Байгаль орчны менежментийн төлөвлөгөө, Саусгоби Сэндс ХХК), accessed via the archive at https://www.archive.org/details/Coal_Mine_Environmental_Management_Plan, 2023. The extent of the Sunrise Pit polygon was delineated from the 2023 plan map and imagery consistent with site conditions as of 2023. This open pit appears to overlap with part of the Nariin Sukhait Coal Mine project area. The overlapping project areas are associated with different owners, with the Nariin Sukhait Coal Mine operated by Mongolyn Alt LLC and the Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine operated by SouthGobi Sands LLC. The approximate area of the resulting boundary is 3 square km.

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Additional data

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