With the plant in operation, Mongolians began washing and processing their coal domestically rather than exporting it raw, producing and exporting a value-added end product. The fully automated plant, with three modules and the capacity to wash 15 million tonnes of coal a year, was commissioned in phases from 2011. Coal washing technology and design solutions from Australia, a world leader in the field, were introduced at the plant.

In the ten years since it was commissioned, the plant has washed a total of 69.5 million tonnes of raw coal, producing 34.6 million tonnes of washed coking coal and 13 million tonnes of washed thermal coal. A dedicated tailings dewatering plant was also built next to the coal washing plant; by recovering water from the coal slurry it has raised water recycling to around 95 per cent.

To mark the plant’s anniversary, the “Coal Preparation 2021” theoretical and practical conference was successfully held online together with the Mongolian Association of Mineral Processors, in order to assess the current state and future direction of coal preparation technology in Mongolia on the basis of the research findings and concepts of academics, researchers and engineers, and to exchange experience on the achievements and technological progress of coal washing plants.