NAADAM HOLIDAY
The honored celebration of the People of Mongolia dedicated to the 2229TH anniversary of the Mongolian first Statehood, the 814th anniversary of the Great Mongol Empire and the 99th anniversary of the People’s Revolution has arrived:
The voice of the racehorses echoed
Archery hiss slicing the wind
Wrestling dance dominating the games field
The one and only Naadam of Mongolia
We wish all the partners and clients a greeting to celebrate this auspicious occasion of the National Holiday from our ancestors! Have a great Naadam Festivity.
Following tradition, the EK team celebrated Naadam 2020 and get the refreshment of further achievement from July 11 to July 19. We will get back to work on July 20.
EURO KHAN CEO DR. OLIVER SCHNORR RE-ELECTED AS A PRESIDENT OF DMUV
We are very pleased to inform you that the DMUV Member Companies elected a new Board from its midst on June 30. DMUV is welcoming Dr. Oliver Schnorr, Mr. Soyol-Erdene Tsegmid, Mr. Michael Sumser, Mr. Avirmed Mendbayar, Ms. Enkh-Amgalan Galsanjamts.
We look forward to successful cooperation in the next two years!
“CHULUUT” FLUORSPAR PROCESSING PLANT PROJECT UPDATE
The Chuluut project’s construction has reached 65 percent of completion. Equipment and crusher Foundations are 78 percent and 40 percent, respectively. Flooring works are up to 100%. Water trap from ball mill, classifier, drum filter and belt filter is expected to finished after floor concreting works.
ECONOMY
S&P REAFFIRMS MONGOLIA'S 'B' RATINGS WITH STABLE OUTLOOK
Standard & Poor's (S&P) Global Ratings has affirmed its 'B' long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings for Mongolia, the country's Finance Minister Chimed Khurelbaatar said Thursday, citing the agency's report.
In its report, the rating agency said that its outlook reflects the expectation that the economic shock from COVID-19 pandemic will be temporary and that economic growth will rebound over the next 12 months, leading to a stabilization in Mongolia's external, fiscal and debt metrics.
"Mongolia's commodity-oriented economy is experiencing a considerable slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we expect growth to rebound strongly over the coming years, alongside China's economic recovery," the agency said.
According to the S&P Global Ratings, the Mongolian government is expected to resume its fiscal consolidation efforts once the global economy begins to recover.
The agency forecasts the Mongolian economy will contract by 1 percent in 2020, although growth will rebound to 8.5 percent in 2021 as activity resumes and mineral production improves.
Source: Xinhua
BOM PURCHASES 2.3 TONS OF PRECIOUS GOLD IN JUNE
In May 2020, the precious metal purchase of the Bank of Mongolia (BoM) was 2.3 tons, raising the BoM’s total precious metal purchase of 2020 to 10.8 tons, of which 9.1 tons were gold and 1.7 tons were silver. It means the amount of precious metal purchase increased by 4.8 tons compared with the same period of previous year.
In June, the BoM branches in Darkhan-Uul and Bayankhongor aimags bought 63.9 kg and 81.9 kg of precious metals respectively. The average price of BoM’s purchase of 1 gram of gold was MNT 156,422.38 in June.
Source: Montsame
CHINA-MONGOLIA BORDER PORT SEES MORE CHINA-EUROPE FREIGHT TRAINS IN H1
A total of 956 China-Europe freight trains passed through the border port of Erenhot in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the first half of this year, an increase of 34 percent year on year, local authorities said Friday.
Of them, 414 were outbound and 542 inbound, according to the Erenhot station of exit and entry frontier inspection.
These freight trains carried a total of 960,000 tonnes of goods worth around 1.7 billion U.S. dollars from January to June, up 65.6 percent and 2.7 percent year on year, respectively, the local customs data showed.
Initiated in 2011, the China-Europe cargo rail transport service is considered a significant part of the Belt and Road Initiative to boost trade between China and countries participating in the program. Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, the service remains a reliable transportation channel.
Source: Xinhua
SELBE AND BAYANKHOSHUU SUB-CENTERS UNDER CONSTRUCTION
According to the Ulaanbaatar Master Plan, six sub-centers are planned to be built in the city to balance urban development. The Ger Area Development Investment Support Program is building the infrastructure for the sub-centers. Within the first phase of the project, more than 50 facilities and engineering infrastructure works were carried out to partially develop the Bayankhoshuu and Selbe sub-centers.
On June 4, Deputy Ulaanbaatar Mayor J.Batbayasgalan and other related officials inspected the construction process. J.Batbayasgalan ordered the relevant authorities to monitor the cleanup of the area. “Even people who have exchanged their land for apartments need to be responsible and clean up their waste,” he noted. Relevant officials then inspected the progress of the Bayankhoshuu sub-center's landscaping work along the flood dam. N.Badmaavanchin, the general engineer of Duuren Trade LLC working as a contractor of the project, noted, “Flood dam construction is at 80 percent completion. Work is proceeding according to plan and schedule. There are relatively few obstacles to work.”
Source: The UB Post
FAST TRACK BORDER PASSAGE FOR CHINA, MONGOLIA TO REBOOT TRADE LINKS
China and Mongolia have implemented a "fast track" entry agreement amid the lingering COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the orderly and safe flow of people and goods across borders at border cities since Friday, China's Foreign Ministry said Monday.
The green passage scheme will address the need for truck drivers driving freight across the national border and other key personnel needing to cross the border for business, logistics and production needs, according to the Foreign Ministry.
The ministry said the scheme will have a significant role in boosting the bilateral trade of goods and facilitate work and production resumption on key projects involving people from both countries.
China first piloted a fast-track entry mechanism with South Korea in April to keep the pandemic contained while kick-starting economic work and industrial production that inevitably involves personnel exchanges with its major trade partners. Fast track agreements with other countries, such as Germany and Singapore, followed.
Source: GlobalTimes.cn
CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS OF BRIQUETTE PLANT AT 40 PCT
Tavan Tolgoi Tulsh LLC has begun constructing a new briquette plant complex to facilitate the provision of improved fuel to consumers in the eastern part of Ulaanbaatar. As of July 6, the project started almost a-year-and-a-half ago saw 40 percent completion rate.
Situated in a 70-hectare field in Nalaikh District, the new complex is projected to produce 600,000 tons of standard briquettes with minimal soot emission annually. Tavan Tolgoi Tulsh estimated that this would better satisfy the demand for improved fuel, create jobs for more than 1,000 people and help mitigate air pollution, one of the most pressing issues in Ulaanbaatar, by 70 to 80 percent.
The project has already started operating a trial run at the first plant. The company’s general engineer M.Javkhlan, who is leading the briquette plant project, said, “This (trial plant) is capable of producing 30,000 tons of coal per day. If it operates without error for 72 hours, we can begin production.”
Source: The UB Post
See also: Eastern region refined coal factory under development
ADB APPROVES USD 30M LOAN TO DEVELOP FREE ZONE IN MONGOLIA
In the first six months, Mongolia’s total exports amounted $2.2 billion, according to the Customs General Administration.
Mongolia's exports decreased by 40.6 percent or $1.5 billion in the first six months of 2020.
Mongolia has exported 8.5 million tons of coal for $678 million in H1.
Coal exports decreased by 2.1 times compared to the same period of the previous year. The country has exported 997 thousand barrels of oil decreasing by 3.4 times.
Source: AKIpress
NAADAM 2020 PROGRAM
The Asian Development Bank has approved a $30m loan to develop the Zamyn-Uud free zone, located at Mongolia’s busiest border crossing with China.
Upon completion in 2025, it is hoped the zone will help facilitate cross-border economic activity and encourage involvement in international supply chains.
The Zamyn-Uud free zone is one of three free zones in Mongolia set up in 2004. The zone had a management team and basic infrastructure before the ADB became involved, but has struggled to attract business activity.
The ADB cites a number of constraints to the zone’s development, including an unfeasible masterplan and incomplete infrastructure. The $30m loan – which was approved on June 18 – is intended to remedy some of these issues.
Dorothea Lazaro, a regional cooperation specialist at the ADB, told fDi: “The new masterplan will take into consideration a more realistic market demand and incorporate a phased approach,” replacing an “ambitious” 900-hectare project with a 300-hectare phase-1.
Source: fDi Intelligence
WORLD BANK: MONGOLIA POVERTY UPDATE - VIDEO
Despite robust economic growth, Mongolia is struggling to translate the benefits of its recent macroeconomic growth into household-level welfare, especially for the poor. The national poverty rate fell slightly from 29.6% in 2016 to 28.4% in 2018. Watch this video to learn more about the poverty trend in Mongolia based on Mongolia Poverty Update 2018, a joint report by the National Statistics Office of Mongolia (NSO) and the World Bank.
Source: World Bank
WELCOME TO MONGOLIA: A GREAT PLACE TO DIE - EDITORIAL
What comes to mind when you think of Mongolia? My answer, probably like many people’s, was vast empty space, those signature round white tents (which Mongolians call gers, not ‘yurts’ – a word brought in during the country’s period under Russian and Soviet influence) and Genghis Khan.
One thing you might not think of is ‘a good place to die’. Yet Mongolia is punching above its weight in palliative care, the branch of medicine that supports people with terminal or complex illnesses. Palliative care takes a magpie approach, borrowing from other medical disciplines and addressing a whole range of issues at once, ranging from pain and other symptoms to spiritual, social and psychological support.
In a 2015 survey of global palliative care, the UK comes top, Australia second and the USA ninth. And while the richest Western nations lead the pack, Mongolia appears notably high up, especially considering that it’s well down the economic rankings.
Source: HighBrowMagazine.com
HELPING THE BLIND VISUALIZE THE WORLD - INTERVIEW
The following is an interview with M.Tsengel, a specialist at the Ulaanbaatar City Public Library and head of the Innovation and Development Center for the Visually Impaired.
Hoping to reconnect partially and completely blind people like himself with the rest of the world, M.Tsengel became the first Mongolian to teach people living with visual impairment how to operate a computer and acquire information. He also introduced Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) standard to Mongolia and creates digital audiobooks for people with “print disabilities”, including blindness, impaired vision, and dyslexia.
Is it true that you were able to see until the age of seven? How did you lose your vision?
I was born in Batshireet soum, Khentii Province in 1982. My parents moved to Ulaanbaatar in 1988 to enroll me into a special school. I finished eighth grade at Special School No. 29 in 1997. Back then, people used to finish general education schools in eight years.
Source: The UB Post
HEARTBEAT OF THE MONGOLIAN ECONOMY - EDITORIAL
In 2011, the Mongolian GDP growth reached 11.5 percent which seemed shockingly high to the rest of the world. Some people still proudly talk about this growth. However, in reality, it was a lesson rather than an accomplishment. The dramatic growth was the result of the Investment Agreement concluded on October 6, 2009, which brought investments amounting to seven billion USD to the Oyu Tolgoi project. Perhaps, at that time, Mongolia was not yet aware of its investment environment. In correlation with the transition to a free market, the Law on Foreign Investment was adopted in 1993 which enhanced Mongolian foreign trade. Foreign investment amounts to 10 million USD, or at most 25-30 million USD in a year.
From 1990 to 2000, the Mongolian government, in broad terms, had no income from exports or tax. Thus, they had to pay the civil servant’s salary through foreign debt and aid.
Source: Mongolian Economy
BUSINESS
RIO TINTO CUTS RESERVES AT MONGOLIAN COPPER PROJECT AS COSTS RISE
Rio Tinto on Friday cut estimated reserves at its underground copper mine extension in Mongolia and confirmed it would face delays and higher costs after ground instability forced it to redesign its mine plan.
Oyu Tolgoi (OT) is Rio’s biggest copper growth project but has faced geological challenges. In July last year, Rio estimated the project’s capital cost at $6.5 billion to $7.2 billion, as much as $1.9 billion more than its initial estimate in 2016.
Rio said the updated feasibility study confirmed that recent cost estimate, and warned there could be further changes to reserves as it continues work on the design.
Rio also narrowed its estimated first production from its mine to between October 2022 and June 2023, 21-29 months later than its initial estimate.
Analysts at Citi estimated the changes in the mine plan reduce total production and copper tonnes by 11%.
Source: Reuters
See also: Oyu Tolgoi mine design confirms project schedule and cost ranges
THREE CAMEL LODGE SPECIAL OFFER FOR NAADAM
Three Camel Lodge, a luxury eco-lodge located in the Gobi Desert, is offering discounted rates on its packages during the Naadam period.
For more info:
• Company brochure
• 4 days itinerary
• 3 days itinerary
• July Naadam prices
Source: Three Camel Lodge
ERDENE RESOURCE INTERSECTS 5.5 METRES OF 126 G/T IN MONGOLIA
Erdene Resource Development Corp. reported drill results from the Midfield Southeast Zone at the100%-owned Bayan Khundii gold project in southwest Mongolia.
“We are exceptionally pleased with drill results from the new Midfield Southeast Zone, including one metre of 582 g/t gold within an intersection of 5.5 metres grading 126 g/t gold, in a near-surface region of the Bayan Khundii deposit,” said Peter Akerley, President and CEO. “A second intersection, 40 metres north, of 15 metres of 26 g/t gold, including one metre grading 338 g/t gold, confirms the existence of a new high-grade zone in an area that is currently classified as waste or low-grade material that could add meaningfully to resources during the early stages of the project.
“While we are rapidly advancing the Bayan Khundii development, with results of the project’s bankable feasibility study anticipated in the coming weeks…
Source: ResourceWorld.com
ELIXIR ENERGY HIGHLIGHTS POTENTIAL FOR EARLY COAL SEAM GAS PRODUCTION AT NOMGON
Absorption test results from Elixir Energy’s (ASX: EXR) Nomgon-1 well has indicated the coals are near fully gas-saturated, which could point to a simpler and cheaper pilot design for the Mongolian coal seam gas (CSG) project and the potential for early production.
The junior explorer today reported the final key laboratory results for its Nomgon-1 well, which was announced as a CSG discovery in February.
Elixir managing director Neil Young said the identification of fully gas-saturated coals suggest a “potentially very energy-intensive per acre resource” has been found.
The company has also recommenced its field program at the South Mongolian production sharing contract with the drilling of Nomgon-2 due to start “shortly”.
According to the company, full gas saturation for a CSG play can mean “potentially very positive” consequences including the possibility for pilot production design to be “substantially simpler and cheaper”.
Source: SmallCaps.com.au
STEPPE HITS COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION AT ATO
The Ulaanbaatar operation formally called Altan Tsagaan Ovoo has sold 15,389oz of gold to date, and 4,978oz of silver in six separate deliveries.
Steppe management said the commercial achievement was met in the June quarter just ended; all operations and facilities are running to plan and all relevant metrics have been met.
"The company made its first gold sales starting on April 23 and gold and silver is being produced and sold every 14 days," it noted.
Additionally, as of June 30, the producer mined, crushed and stacked about 715,000 tonnes of ore onto Cell 1, where leaching continues, and a further 160,000t of ore was already delivered to the ROM pad where it is being crushed and stacked.
Stacking of ore at Cell 2 has already started, and leaching will begin this month.
Source: MiningMagazine.com
FUNDING WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS ON MONGOLIA’S COVID FRONT LINE - EDITORIAL
Mongolia was one of the first countries in the world to adopt strict Covid-19 containment measures, starting with a January 27 halt to air and land travel between China and Mongolia, school closings, and a ban on gatherings. Eventually, all commercial flights to Mongolia were stopped, and so far this has miraculously limited the number of infections to slightly over 200, with no confirmed cases of community transmission.
Mongolia’s economy has been a different story. Economic growth—a respectable 5.1 percent in 2019—is expected to fall sharply in 2020. The OECD originally forecast that Mongolia’s 2020 economy would grow at 5.4 percent, but in May it revised its estimate dramatically downward, to minus 1 percent. The nation’s heavy reliance on export earnings from extractive industries makes matters worse. This lack of diversification is likely to hobble employment, investment, productivity, and longer-term recovery from the pandemic in an economic future that is “subject to unprecedented uncertainty” for Mongolia and many other developing nations.
Source: The Asia Foundation
