Ivanhoe Mines has received written expressions of interest from potential buyers of some of its assets, and the TSX- and NYSE-listed company is “highly encouraged” by the progress of the talks, it said on Monday. The proceeds of any asset sales could go towards building the colossal Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project in Mongolia, for which Ivanhoe also said it hoped to finalise a $4-billion loan package early in the second half of 2012. Ivanhoe’s major assets other than Oyu Tolgoi, which it said is on track for initial production in the third quarter, include a 58% stake in Mongolian coal miner SouthGobi Resources; 59% ownership of Ivanhoe Australia, developing the Merlin molybdenum-rhenium project; and 50% of unlisted Altynalmas Gold, building a mine in Kazakhstan. The biggest of these is Hong Kong- and Toronto-quoted SouthGobi, which has a C$1.3-billion market capitalisation, valuing Ivanhoe’s stake at around C$754-million. Ivanhoe gets written interest for potential asset sales