Ivanhoe will remain listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and will continue with plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange on January 18.

Australian investors will be able to sell their shares on the TSX three months after the ASX delisting via Macquarie Equities.

In Mongolia, Ivanhoe will begin drilling at its property located adjacent to Mongolian/Chinese joint venture Nariin Sukhait Mine. The mine currently produces 450,000 tonnes of high-rank, low-ash, low-sulphur metallurgical steam coal a year.

Ivanhoe said preliminary test work indicated the quality and nature of the coal on Ivanhoe’s ground was similar to that of the Nariin Sukhait Mine.

“In November 2004, Ivanhoe completed a five-hole drill program that confirmed that the #5 seam currently being mined at the Nariin Sukhair extends into Ivanhoe’s property – where the average thickness has been demonstrated to be in excess of 55 metres,” Ivanhoe said.

The company’s first phase drilling objective was to delineate an initial coal resource of 50 to 100Mt.

At this stage Nariin Sukhait Mine coal is trucked to buyers, however Chinese interests are currently building a 400km railway from the Jiuquan steel mill to the Mongolia border. The railway is planned to run 40km south of the Nariin Sukhait project area, but mine owner Quing-Hua Mac is in discussion to extend the railway to the mine.