By Dorothy Kosich, Mineweb.com
London-based Lotus Resources, which concentrates on exploration and mining projects in Mongolia and China, announced Thursday it has acquired a fluorspar mining license for the Tsagaan Chuluut project in Dornogobi Province, Mongolia.
In a news release, the company said the Tsaggan Chuluut deposit "is genetically and morphologically very similar to Mongolia's largest fluorspar mine, Bor-Ondor, which is located about 70 kilometers west-northwest of Tsaggan Chuluut.
The license covers a 33-hectare area and the project has an approved resource of 170,000 tonnes of fluorspar.
Historical exploration drilling has been conducted by joint Mongolian-Russian geologists teams and by the Mongolian-Russian joint venture Mongolrostsvetmet (MONROS), which was one of Mongolia's largest gold producers.
Production of fluorspar has historically been mainly to Russia as raw materials for the chemical, iron and steel, and non-ferrous metals industry, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Lotus CEO Simon Longworth said, "The successful acquisition of a second mining license is another significant step towards achieving our aim of building a profitable fluorspar mining and processing business in Mongolia. We are now in a position where we can quickly bring several fluorspar mines into production."