The government’s Tavan Tolgoi mine could produce more than 15 million tonnes per annum and hosts a deposit of about 1.8 billion tonnes of coking coal and 4.6Bt of thermal coal in the South Gobi desert.

There is also proposed railway to allow the coal to be hauled through Russia for export off the east coast.

There are varying news reports on the Tavan Tolgoi-related activity underway in the country, including the mention of a brawl at an Irish pub in the unusually testosterone-fuelled capital city of Ulan Bator this week according to London’s Financial Times.

The UB Post, owned by Mongol News Media Group, released a shortlist of the 15 international companies or consortiums which officially submitted proposals to the Mongolian government.

FMG stood out from other coal-seasoned companies in this list, which included a bid from a consortium of major coal producer China Shenhua Energy with Japan’s Mitsui Corporation, plus separate bids from steelmaker, coal investor and producer Arcelor Mittal and India’s International Coal Venture.

There was also an interesting consortium bid comprising of Korea Resources (Kores), Japanese trading houses Itochu, Sojitz and Marubeni, and Russian Railways.

But like other companies linked by media to the bidding process, FMG is not confirming or commenting on any reports it is in the running for the government tender.

“Any material business developments at Fortescue are disclosed through announcements and regular business updates to the Australian Stock Exchange,” a FMG spokesman told ILN.

In an advertisement on ILN last year, Fortescue called for “an entrepreneurial, globally experienced, technically and commercially savvy project generation geological mastermind”

“With its highly successful iron ore operations in the Pilbara and the massive Solomon mining hub well advanced, Fortescue is aiming to significantly increase its market cap in this targeted expansion and diversification phase in the steel industry.

“Coal is a commodity where the sights are set and the globe is the target.”

FMG also has interests on the west coast of New Zealand, a region which hosts some of the most premium hard coking coal in the world.

Mongolian government-owned Erdenes MGL holds the Tavan Tolgoi licence.

The government plans to float about half of this company which could give it a market cap of $US10-15 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

But The Independent reported that about up to 25% of the company’s shares would be listed by the first half of next year, to raise up to $2 billion.

More than 20 investment banks, including the likes of HSBC, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Citi and Macquarie, are pitching the government for a role, according to the British newspaper.