The Ministry of Industry, which has announced 2016 will be the year of support for the domestic industrial sector, hosted, together with the President’s Office, a meeting on January 15 at Tuushin Hotel with producers, during which it signed a memorandum of cooperation with Erdenet Mining Corp. G.Ider of MMJ asked B.Namkhainyambuu, the company’s Deputy Director for Development, questions about the significance of this.What will the memorandum achieve?What the two parties signed was basically a policy document on some trade issues. The company will henceforth try to buy more from domestic producers every year. This has been part of the government’s action plan, and our company has also been supporting domestic national producers more and more. There are over 10 domestic production units in Orkhon aimag, and we buy from all of them.
Erdenet has its own unit for maintenance and repair of machines, and this will now also manufacture mining equipment and spare parts. The ministry will support us in this expansion.
Executives and workers at Erdenet have for long dreamt of having a copper smelter in Mongolia and it seems we are getting close to it.
How much do you buy locally?We have an agreement with Orkhon aimag to buy from domestic producers 30 percent of our total purchases. Following the memorandum, we hope to raise it to 35 percent. This will go up as more and more things are made in Mongolia.
The government wants the smelter in Bor-Undur. How do you in Erdenet see this?Bor-Undur has the necessary infrastructure -- water, paved roads, railway, energy etc. It is also close to both OT and Tsagaansuvarga, making it easier to transport copper concentrate to the smelter. Besides, with plans to increase fluorspar production, the region is likely to become a chemical and metallurgical complex.
All this makes Bor-Undur a good choice and we in Erdenet would certainly help the smelter come up there. Issues such as the respective share of ownership of the smelter among Erdenet, OT and Tsagaansuvarga will come up, or it could also be fully state-owned.
However these matters are decided, Erdenet will send its copper concentrate to the smelter. We are nearing the stage when value in various forms will be added to Mongolian mining products.
What recent achievements have recently been seen at Erdenet?We increased our ore processing capacity by 6 million tons in 2015, bringing total capacity to 32 million tons. This expansion required investment. We have also begun making steel balls to cut operation cost.
In the area of social responsibility, Erdenet medical centre is ready and will be operational soon.