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ULAAN OVOO OVERVIEW

Location and Ownership

Prophecy’s 100% owned Ulaan Ovoo coal deposit is approximately 430 km by paved highway from the capital city of Mongolia, Ulaanbataar. It is also strategically located just 17 km from the Russian border and 120 km from both Mongolian and Russian rail links. The project contains 209 million tonnes of measured and indicated coal resources. A prefeasibility study of the initial mining area found the coal to be a high-quality, high-volatility sub bituminous rank (ASTM) thermal coal that is economically mineable with a 1.8:1 strip ratio. The average coal assay for the mining area is gross calorific value 5,040 kcal/kg with low ash at 11.3% and very low sulfur of 0.40% (all on the as-received basis). Characteristics of the deposit, including a coal thickness of at least 53 meters, a low strip ratio and no coal washing required for the first 8 years of operations, make for a low cost mining operation.

On November 11, 2010, the company received the mine permit from the Mongolian Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy. Leighton Engineering started as the contract miner in July 2010 and began initial mining operations.  Prophecy commissioned Ulaan Ovoo in December 2010. Mining has continued to this date. The northern part of the deposit area covers approximately 790 hectares. Prophecy holds the Ulaan Ovoo Mine area under two mining licenses: 1231A with an area of 213 hectares and license 5895X with an area of 254 hectares. The mining licenses are issued for a term of 30 years with a 40-year extension option.

Surrounding the Ulaan Ovoo deposit are other prospective coal-bearing basins similar in size to Ulaan Ovoo. Prophecy has obtained four transferable licenses covering these basins. Recently during June 2011, Prophecy acquired the rights to acquire 100% ownership of the 4,773-hectare Ilch Khujirt property (Ilch) located 17 km northeast of the Ulaan Ovoo coal mine. The Ilch property is contiguous to Prophecy’s existing 7,392 hectare Khujirt exploration license. Prophecy immediately started to evaluate the coal resource potential of the licenses. During 2011, Prophecy began exploratory drilling activities to better evaluate the coal resource potential of their licenses and the Ilch Khujirt property..


Location Map
Click to enlarge

Exploration Work

To date, the exploration work on Ulaan Ovoo includes over 110 drill holes, more than 1,200 analyzed coal laboratory samples, hydrological and rock mechanics surveys, detailed mapping and several advanced mining, engineering and scoping studies. The project area is underlain by two major coal seams—with total net coal thickness up to 70 m—and five minor seams. Detailed exploration drilling work was performed on the deposit in the late 1970's by the Mongolian Ministry of Geology and Energy and again from 1993-1997 by Erdenet, a Mongolian-Russian joint venture mining and processing company. The results indicated a large coal deposit of over 78 million tonnes in the northern part of the deposit area. Exploration at the southern part of the deposit area was incomplete, but it is speculated to be comparable in size to that of the north.

In 2006, Red Hill, the previous owner, commissioned Behre Dolbear Inc. (USA) to supervise an 11-hole, 2,400 m diamond core drilling program at Ulaan Ovoo. Of these, six holes were drilled in the northern portion of the reserve to confirm previous results and five holes were drilled in the southern part of the area to increase the reliability of the model in this area. Over 362 core samples were taken, containing over 470 m of coal. The final results from the 2006 drilling program increased the resource estimate by an additional 130.8 million tonnes (168%), to a total coal resource of 208.8 million tonnes in measured and indicated.

In 2011, drilling at Prophecy’s newly acquired Ilch Khujirt property intercepted a gross coal seam thickness of 19-meters.  Further exploration is planned in order to accurately define the extent of the resource at Ilch and the resource potential of the other licenses.

Environmental Approval Granted by Mongolian Government

In 2008, Prophecy received approval of a Detailed Environmental Impact Statement (DEIA) on the Ulaan Ovoo project from the Mongolian Ministry of Nature and the Environment. Under Mongolia's 2006 Minerals Law and 1995 Environmental Protection Law, such DEIA approval is required before the project can be developed.

Prepared by Ecos LLC, an independent Mongolian environmental consulting company, the DEIA considers social and labour issues, climate and environmental circumstances of the project area, potential environmental impacts of a full mining operation, as well as other important factors. The study concluded that there are no major impediments to mining Ulaan Ovoo and provided recommendations on best practices for conservation of the environment and community.

The DEIA also assessed the local public opinion of the project, finding that a large majority of the local residents and soum (township) government support the project because of its potential to bring new, high-paying employment opportunities and expansion to the local economy.

In 2010, Prophecy received an Annual Environmental Protection Plan by the Mongolian Ministry of Environmental Protection.


Coal Seam

Coal Core


PRODUCTION

Since 2010, the Company has invested over $30 million at Ulaan Ovoo, including road and bridge building, mining fleet, mining camp, pre-stripping, and other infrastructure and community improvement efforts. Since September 2011, Prophecy has sold and delivered some 188,915 tonnes of thermal coal, including 8,055 tonnes to Russia, 23,543 tonnes to private Mongolian companies, and 157,317 tonnes to Mongolian government owned power plants. The Company has contracts to deliver an additional 228,388 tonnes in 2012, the majority of which is to be delivered to the Darhan and Erdenet power plants in Mongolia. In just over a year, Prophecy’s Ulaan Ovoo mine has become the largest independent supplier of coal to Mongolian power plants, for the benefit of Mongolians.

There are currently approximately 130,000 tonnes of coal stockpiled at Ulaan Ovoo. The total sales target for 2012 is 300,000 tonnes of coal. For the remainder of 2012, the Company expects a stabilized production cost and minimal capital expenditures.

In the past months, the Company has experienced a steady increase in both demand and realized sale price for its coal. In 2012, the Company has received commitment and interest for a substantial quantity of Ulaan Ovoo coal from Mongolian and Russian buyers. However, Prophecy is postponing sales to Russia pending approvals to build a road and coal transfer facility, open the Zheltura border crossing and the obtaining of a revised export royalty scheme from the General Department of Taxation of Mongolia.


Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this website.

Qualified Person under NI 43-101
Christopher M. Kravits P.Geo., a consultant of the Company is the qualified persons responsible for the technical information on this website.

Cautionary Note Regarding Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves
Readers should refer to the Company's current technical reports and other continuous disclosure documents filed by the Company available on Sedar at www.sedar.com for further information on the mineral resource estimates of the Company's projects, which are subject to the qualifications and notes set forth therein, as well as for additional information relating to the Company more generally. Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability. Inferred mineral resources have insufficient confidence to allow the meaningful application of technical and economic parameters or to enable an evaluation of economic viability suitable for public disclosure. Neither the Company nor readers can assume that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will be upgraded to indicated or measured mineral resources. Most projects at the inferred mineral resource stage do not ever achieve successful commercial production. Each stage of a project is contingent on the positive results of the previous stage and that there is a significant risk that the results may not support or justify moving to the next stage.

Click here for the forward-looking statements and the cautionary note.

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