Australia's Macmahon faces possible funding hitch in MongoliaBy:...

Australia's Macmahon faces possible funding hitch in Mongolia

By: Reuters

25th January 2013

MELBOURNE - Australia's Macmahon Holdings , the mining contractor at Mongolia's giant Tavan Tolgoi coal mine, may face a problem there after April if its client Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi does not sort out funding problems, a senior executive said on Friday.

Erdenes-Tavan Tolgoi has run into issues managing its debt and is looking to renegotiate a supply contract with its main customer, Aluminium Corporation of China (Chalco) .

"We're not too concerned at the moment, but it has the potential, if it's not resolved, to cause problems," Ashley Mason, Macmahon's general manager of strategy and business development, told Reuters.

Mason said Macmahon was still mining as normal at Tavan Tolgoi and is still being paid as normal.

"We have money in an escrow account, so we're guaranteed payment until at least April," he said, adding that Macmahon had been through issues like this before in Mongolia and was confident Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi would resolve its financing problem with the Mongolian government.


http://www.miningweekly.com/article/australias-macmahon-faces-possible-funding-hitch-in-mongolia-2013-01-25