The Mongolian Mining Journal

Chinese smelters await copper concentrate from Oyu Tolgoi An accident at the Grasberg mine in Indonesia which killed 28 people is causing concern at Chinese smelters because copper supplies are decreasing.

“Non-responsiveness is a sign of refusal, but it happens very rarely.” In this interview, the Mongolian Ambassador to Australia, R. Bold, addresses a wide range of issues related to Australia and of great importance to Mongolia. Among the topics he discusses are whether Mongolia can learn from the Australian model of development and whether the Australian government is attempting to improve communication between Rio Tinto and the Mongolian government.

A mine containing copper and gold has been discovered in northwest China According to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua, Geologists have discovered a large gold mine in the western part of Xinjiang Province in the Ili Valley, near the border with Kazakhstan. The mine is believed to contain more than 53 tons of gold, worth about $3.2 billion.

A New President The presidential election marathon has begun. We will see politics unfold until the 26th of June, the day the ballots are taken in, and maybe, even all summer long.

One thousand march as twenty-eight feared dead in collapse of training center at Grasberg mine High in the mountains of an isolated region of Indonesia an underground training facility which is part of Grasberg mine collapsed last Tuesday. Ten people have been rescued, but 14 are confirmed dead and another 14 are still missing and are also feared dead.

Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi to mine the West Tsankhi coal area Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi plans to start mining coal in the West Tsankhi area. The goal is to increase the company’s production to pay off debts of $186 million to Aluminum Corporation of China or Chalco and $200 million to the state-owned Development Bank of Mongolia.

Oyu Tolgoi to begin shipping copper earlier than expected Rio Tinto appears to be on course to ship copper from the Oyu Tolgoi earlier than was anticipated. Sam Walsh, the company’s CEO, has indicated that it has settled its differences with the Mongolian government and is ready to move ahead.

JICA study doubts if coal sector can expand much B. Altsukh, Director of the Coal Department at the Mining Agency since 2012, started his career in the Baganuur mine as a mining engineer, rising to become its Deputy Director, before moving on to work as a senior expert at the Ministry of Fuel and Energy and then at the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy.

Genie Energy enters agreement with Mongolia to explore oil shale resources Genie Energy announced that its subsidiary, Genie Oil Shale Mongolia (GOSM), has received authorization to work with the Petroleum Authority of Mongolia (PAM) to “explore and evaluate” oil shale resources in Central Mongolia.

CEO Sam Walsh announces Rio Tinto will cut costs Rio Tinto CEO Sam Walsh announced that the company will seek to cut costs as demand for industrial commodities has dropped. The announcement comes as growth in China has slowed more than expected, declining to 7.7% from 7.9% the previous quarter.

BBC report blames Mongolian Government for potentially undermining mining boom In a piece entitled “Traditional Mongolia transformed by mining riches” which aired on Monday night, Justin Rowlatt, a journalist for the BBC’s Newsnight, reported that Mongolia has the opportunity to make all Mongolians materially better off because of the immense mineral wealth that the country possesses.

Will Rio Tinto’s Simandou project in Guinea move forward? Guinean former Minister of Mines Mahmoud Thiam claims that the Rio Tinto Group will likely suspend its efforts to develop one of the largest sources of iron ore in the world because the country’s government cannot afford to invest in needed transportation infrastructure.

Mongolia to help Japan reinvent itself Some four years ago, President Elbegdorj visited India, a country that does not make too many blips on the Mongolian political/economic radar.

Aspire considering small-scale, pre-rail, road-based operation Aspire Mining has issued an Interim Report on the operations in its four exploration projects in Mongolia, three of which (Ovoot, Nuramt, and Jilchigbulag) are focused on coking coal and the other (Zavkhan) on iron ore.

Coking coal export earned $590 million last year Minister for Mining D. Gankhuyag has reported that 31.1 million tons of coking coal was mined in 2012, of which 20.5 million tons was exported for approximately $590 million. Also, 14,483,138 barrels or about 2.3 million tons of crude oil was drilled, of which 14,090,509 barrels were exported for MNT332.3 billion.

“Why should the State build a railway?” B.Purevbaatar, Head of the Mongolian Railway Engineering Association, tells MMJ what is wrong with the State policy on railway and why there has been no progress in building the railway.

International Conference & Expo on Coal Beneficiation (ICECB) 18th April 2013 New Delhi, India

While Mongolian coal exports plummet, U.S. coal exports are on the rise In the next 5 years, 175 coal-burning power plants in the United States are predicted to close, which represents 8.5% of total electricity produced by coal in that country.

World CTL 2013 16th April 2013 Shanghai, China

23rd International Mining Congress and Exhibition of Turkey 16th April 2013 Antalya, Turkey