"We have finished renegotiating all of this year's contracts and have already started to sign for next year," Dambin Dorligjav, general director of state-run Erdenet, said in an interview.

The old management had promised to deliver more copper than the mine's production capacity permitted, and many contracts were on bad terms despite favourable prices at the time they were signed, said Dorligjav.

"During renegotiations we cut the amount of copper we had promised to deliver and brought the sales figure down to real production capacity," he said.

Erdenet produces concentrate with 0.28 per cent copper content and supplies it to Russian, Kazakh and Chinese smelters, mostly through Western traders.

Dorligjav said 75 per cent of exports used to pass through Switzerland-based trading markets, but that the figure would be reduced following the renegotiations.

Russia, which has a 49 per cent stake in Erdenet, has the right to buy 120,000 tonnes of copper each year.

"Last year Russia purchased an insignificant amount, so we will be concentrating on boosting sales to our Russian partners," Dorligjav said.

"The cut in Swiss trade will shift to Russia," he said, adding that Erdenet had signed a preliminary agreement to deliver 80,000-100,000 tonnes from next year's output to its northern neighbour.

Falling copper prices have severely impacted Erdenet, which provides the Mongolian government with 30 per cent of its income and 60 per cent of its foreign exchange earnings.

"Under this environment, we are not in a hurry to sign new contracts. We are ready to wait until prices rise to $1,600," he said before Erdenet's unscheduled board meeting.