Entree Gold is set to begin first phase exploration of the Shivee West copper-gold-molybdenum prospect in southern Mongolia.

About USUSD4 million has been budgeted for the work which will be undertaken during the northern hemisphere field season.

The program will include detailed geophysics and about 5000 metres of drilling to test deep geophysical targets and copper, molybdenum, gold soil geochemical targets within a belt of prospective Devonian rocks identified in earlier programs.

Areas of Shivee West are geologically similar to the Devonian-aged setting of the adjacent Entree-Ivanhoe Mines joint venture deposits, Hugo North Extension and Heruga, and Ivanhoe Mines’ nearby Oyu Tolgoi deposits.

This work follows the conversion of key concessions into long term mining licences as part of the Oyu Tolgoi Investment Agreement.

Meanwhile on the company’s Togoot exploration licence, Entree is working with a Mongolian consulting team to prepare a resource estimate for the Nomkhon Bohr coal deposit. This resource estimate will be used in support of a mining licence application prior to exploration licence expiry at the end of March.

At Entree’s Huaixi project in China a 2700 metre drill program was completed in January 2010 following up on a property-wide stream sediment survey and grid-controlled soil geochemical and IP surveys over selected areas of the property. The surveys highlighted a 7 km long, northwest-trending structural corridor with a strong, multi-element geochemical porphyry and chargeability signatures.