Petro Matad completes site construction for new Mongolia well www.stockmarketwire.com

Mongolian-focused explorer Petro Matad said site construction for its Wild Horse 1 well was completed on Monday.

Mitsui and partners to invest $1.5bn in Australian iron ore mines www.asia.nikkei.com

TOKYO -- Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. on Monday announced plans to develop new iron ore mines in Western Australia along with joint-venture partners Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal and Rio Tinto, with production slated to start in 2021.

Elon Musk agrees to pay $20 million and quit as Tesla chairman in deal with SEC www.cnn.com

Elon Musk agreed Saturday to step down as chairman of Tesla and pay a $20 million fine in a deal to settle charges brought this week by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Under the settlement, which requires court approval, Musk will be allowed to stay as CEO but must leave his role as chairman of the board within 45 days. He cannot seek reelection for three years, according to court filings.

He accepted the deal with the SEC "without admitting or denying the allegations of the complaint," according to a court document.

Separately, Tesla agreed Saturday to pay $20 million to settle claims it failed to adequately police Musk's tweet.

"The $40 million in penalties will be distributed to harmed investors under a court-approved process," the SEC said in a press release.

The company also agreed to appoint two new independent directors to its board and establish a board committee to oversee Musk's communications.

Tesla declined to comment. A spokesperson confirmed Musk will be permitted to remain a member of the board.

The announcement from the SEC comes two days after the agency filed a lawsuit against Musk, claiming he misled investors. The suit centers on tweets Musk sent on August 7 in which he said he had secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 a share, causing the company's stock to soar. He had not secured the funding, the SEC said.

The lawsuit sought to ban Musk from serving as an officer or director of any publicly traded company.

Musk called the SEC's suit "unjustified."

"I have always taken action in the best interests of truth, transparency and investors," he said. "Integrity is the most important value in my life and the facts will show I never compromised this in any way."

CNBC, citing unnamed sources, reported that the agency filed the suit on Thursday after Musk refused an earlier settlement offer. Under that deal, Musk would have had to pay a "nominal fine" and leave his role as chairman for two years. He chose not to accept the terms because "because he felt that by settling he would not be truthful to himself," according to the outlet.

A representative for Musk did not immediately reply to CNN's request for comment Saturday.

Jay Dubow, a partner at Pepper Hamilton and a veteran of the SEC's enforcement division, said it was "unusual" that the SEC agreed to let Musk stay on as chief executive but exit the chairman role.

It's surprising considering "the conduct at issue, if [the SEC] really thought it was egregious," Dubow said. "The CEO is certainly more involved than the chairman in day-to-day operations."

He suggested the SEC may have determined that removing Musk as CEO would cause more harm to Tesla's share price, and thus harm investors.

Barclays analyst Brian Johnson estimated in a recent note that Tesla's stock has a $130 "Musk premium," which could disappear if he leaves.

Still unclear is whether or not the Department of Justice will file criminal charges against Musk.

Tesla confirmed earlier this month that the DOJ was investigating whether Musk's comments about taking his company private constituted criminal activity.

Dubow, the former SEC official, said he suspects nothing will come of it.

"My guess is that it's still possible the DOJ will pursue something, but...it's more likely than not that the DOJ chooses not to pursue this," he said.

The settlement has likely assuaged the SEC, mitigating the DOJ's incentive to act.

Diplomatic notes exchanged on mutual visa exemption with Chile www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Taking part in the 73rd Regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Foreign Minister D.Tsogtbaatar met with Chilean Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero.

Here are the best performing coking coal stocks over the past six months www.stockhead.com.au

Prices for both coking and thermal coal have both more than doubled since the market bottomed out in 2016.

While demand for thermal coal — which is used for electricity generation – is expected to decrease over the medium term, the outlook is stronger for coking (or metallurgical) coal — which is needed to make steel.

That’s because there is no substitute for metallurgical coal (sometimes shortened to “met”coal) in the production of steel.

About 800kg of metallurgical coal is needed to produce one tonne of steel – or about 200 tonnes for every wind turbine — according to the Office of the Chief Economist.

And with the pickup in global growth supporting steel production – and hence demand for metallurgical coal – prices remain high, increasing from $151 / tonne at the start of August to $178/ tonne on September 24.

China’s environmental and safety reforms have also seen it close local mines, resulting in increased demand for imported coal.

In the medium term, India is expected to become the world largest importer of metallurgical coal by 2020 on the back of a rapidly expanding steel sector.

Mongolia-focused Aspire Mining (ASX:AKM) has been the best performer over the past six months — rising 242 per cent to 2.4c.

Aspire is developing a huge metallurgical coal project known as Ovoot in north-western Mongolia — but first it needs a railway link between the project and Mongolia’s existing rail system.

The 250 million tonne Ovoot project would potentially produce up to 10 million tonnes a year of premium coking coal over a 21-year mine life.

Aspire shares jumped in June on news the Russian and Mongolian governments were planning to upgrade the Russian – Mongolian Ulaanbaatar Railway and lower tariffs to boost trade flow between the countries.

In the meantime, Aspire has kicked off studies into a smaller road-based operation, which will give the miner early cash flow while waiting for rail access.

In July, the share price of Jameson Resources (ASX:JAL) shot up when the company announced it was accelerating permitting and final feasibility studies at its flagship Crown Mountain project in the Canada’s western British Columbia province.

Over the past six months Jameson has enjoyed a 75 per cent share price increase to 17.5c.

The low cost, high quality Crown Mountain project will produce 1.7 million tonnes a year over 16-year mine life – and will take just over 2 years to payback the start-up costs of $US281m.

The share price of fellow Canada-based explorer Pacific American Coal (ASX:PAK), has increased more than 42 per cent in the last six months – and 100 per cent over the last 12 months – to 5.4c.

Pacific American is currently boosting resources its high quality 257 million tonne Elko coking coal project, located in an established coal mining region in British Columbia.

After the exploration program is completed this quarter, the company will look to release an updated Resource Statement in early 2019.

In 2015, when junior Stanmore Coal (AX:SMR) paid a nominal $1 for Vale’s closed Isaac Plains mine in Queensland its share price languished at 8c.

In the last year, the Stanmore share price has jumped 127 per cent – 22 per cent in the last six months – to recent highs of 87c.

In the last financial year the miner reported record revenues of $208.1 million — up 51 per cent from 2017 – and a gross profit of $52.3 million.

At the end of the 2018 financial year, it was debt free, paying dividends, and “well on-track for a 50 per cent increase in production over the next year”, the company said.

Ministry of Finance estimates budget deficit at MNT 1.9 trillion in 2019 www.zgm.mn

Minister of Finance Khurelbaatar Chimed submitted the bill on 2019 State Budget to the Parliament for approval last Friday. The bill estimated budget balance to be MNT 1.9 trillion in deficit with MNT 9.7 trillion revenue and MNT 11.6 trillion expense. The deficit equals 5.2 percent of total GDP. The 2018 budget balance was estimated at MNT 2.4 trillion in deficit. The minister noted that next year’s budget revenue did not include two income sources from Stabilization fund and Future Heritage Fund. If added, the budget balance may total MNT 11.1 trillion in surplus for the first time. “In preparing the budget, we evaluated Mongolia’s economic growth to be 8 percent in 2019. The package bills on taxes were prepared this year and submitted to the Parliament. These taxes will take effect starting from January 1, 2019. We expect the new taxes will have significant impact in increasing economic activity, supporting the operations of small and medium enterprises and attracting foreign investors,” remarked Mr. Khurelbaatar. He added, “For instance, the corporate income tax will be 1 percent for entities with an annual revenue of less than MNT 1.5 billion. Private entities were previously required to submit four tax reports every year. They are now required to submit 1-4 reports depending on their income with the revision. Secondly, an extensive inspection involving over 10 government agencies was co-conducted in tavan tolgoi and border checkpoints. There were some cases were certain amount of coal that were being transported through Gashuunsukhait border checkpoint was lost due to lack of monitoring, as well as quality issues.

Ministry of Finance expects external debt to equal 55 percent of GDP in 2019
Therefore, the Government decided to allocate budget to create comprehensive system to improve monitoring, install x-ray equipment and cameras, which will be government by a single agency. Also starting from 2019, oil products that are being imported through four border checkpoints will be examined by cutting-edge technology. The budget included the necessary financing to install the equipment.” Within the frames of the package bills on taxes, customs databases are expected to be merged and will be commissioned in 2019. The Ministry of Finance expects the unified database will allow taxes to be fully collected and stop tax evasions. According to the budget bill, foreign loans and aids will account for MNT 1.3 trillion of the revenue and remaining will be built up from domestic sources. The ministry estimates the external debt to equal 55 percent of GDP, which is 26.2 percent lower than 2017. “We are increasing the number of projects to be implemented with foreign loans and aids. Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa signed an agreement worth USD 350 million to increase the drinking water supply in Ulaanbaatar. Considering the cost of establishing a wastewater facility in Ulaanbaatar, the total expense on water will total USD 650 million. The amount of investment from the state budget totals MNT 1.36 trillion, which doubles the amount of this year,” informed Mr. Khurelsukh. Additionally, MNT 720 billion was allocated a for increasing salary, pension and welfare, while MNT 200 billion has been allocated for air pollution reduction in 2019 Budget.

Scientists weigh call for much deeper cuts to coal pollution www.bloomberg.com

A panel of the world’s top climate scientists is preparing to recommend much deeper cuts in fossil-fuel pollution than currently suggested as a pathway to stave off a dangerous increase in global temperatures.

Utilities by 2030 would have to consume just a third of the coal they burn now to hold global warming since the start of the industrial era to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), according to a draft of the findings that the group will consider when it meets starting Monday in Incheon, South Korea. The cut is more than twice as steep as the boldest scenario outlined by the International Energy Agency.

The recommendations due for release on Oct. 8 are meant to build on the the three-year-old call to action in the Paris Agreement on climate change. While President Donald Trump has called the issue a hoax and vowed to pull out of the deal, governments across Europe and Asia are working to restrain emissions, and the scientists suggest they must move faster.

“It’s certainly a very ambitious target,” said Tim Buckley, director of energy studies at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. “Will we see it happen by 2030? Probably not — not in any models we’re seeing at the moment. But thanks to technology, the markets are moving away from coal really fast.”

The report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change draws together hundreds of climate scientists from 195 nations. They’re distilling thousands of academic papers into digestible advice for policymakers. Top officials from the panel will weigh every word of the report starting Monday and deliver a final version next week.

The world has warmed almost 1 degree Celsius since the start of the industrial revolution in the early 1800s, and previous reports from the group focused on holding the increase to 2 degrees. Even that level would represent the quickest shift in the climate since the last ice age ended about 10,000 years ago.

This report, commissioned after the Paris deal, stemmed from concerns that island nations would be swamped by rising seas and more violent storms associated with global warming. Scientists link global warming with increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a byproduct of burning fossil fuels, especially coal.

Coal industry officials say that slashing access to their fuel will slow economic growth and leave millions of people trapped in poverty, unable to access affordable electricity.

“It seems to me very unlikely that we will want to use substantially less energy in the future,” said Brian Ricketts, secretary-general of the European Association for Coal and Lignite. “Using energy has allowed us to progress. Using more energy is necessary to create a better world for everyone.”

Carbon dioxide emissions from energy use climbed 1.6 percent in 2017 after three years of little change, according to data from BP Plc. Seventeen of the 18 warmest years during the last 136 have all happened since 2001 with 2016 ranking as the warmest on record, the U.S. space agency NASA has concluded.

Coal currently feeds about 27 percent of the world’s energy demand. That proportion is likely to drop to about 22 percent in 2040 as governments move toward cleaner energy policy, according to the IEA, the Paris-based institution that advises governments on energy.

Under a bolder outlook that assumes quicker action to protect the atmosphere, coal use would fall to 13 percent of the energy market by 2040 — almost double the proportion that the IPCC is weighing as a recommendation. Bloomberg NEF forecasts that global coal generation will peak around 2027 before falling to 11 percent of world electricity by 2050.

Both the IEA and the World Coal Association declined to comment on the draft ahead of publication.

For now, some governments are pressing ahead with meeting commitments under the Paris agreement even though Trump is working to boost the coal industry. China is scaling back its program to expand coal power, and Europe is working to phase it out completely. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel nominated a panel to advise her when the nation can close all its coal plants. The U.K. has vowed to scrap coal by 2025.

Trump’s reluctance to embrace climate science has slowed momentum at the UN talks that produced the Paris Agreement. Envoys at those discussions floundered over the details of a rulebook on how to implement the 2015 accord. They hope to endorse those guidelines at the end of this year at a meeting in Poland, spelling out both how $100 billion in climate-related aid will be delivered and market mechanisms that would spur further emissions cuts.

Delegates at the IPCC meeting go through their findings line-by-line this week in South Korea then sign off on a summary document to be formally released by the gathering on Oct. 8. The envoys are likely to amend parts of the draft before it’s released.

2019 State Budget Bill submitted to Parliament www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. The Minister of Finance Ch.Khurelbaatar submitted the bill on the 2019 State Budget which was approved by the Government.The budget revenue is calculated to be MNT9 trillion and 676.5 billion or 27.4 percent of the GDP and the expenditure as MNT11 trillion 589.8 billion or 32.8 percent with a deficit of MNT1 trillion 913.3 billion or 5.4 percent of the GDP.

Mongolia’s first official digital currency now in circulation www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. The ceremony for ‘Digital currency’--a new method of payment has taken place at the Bank of Mongolia today.

Foreign Minister meets with OSCE Secretary-General Thomas Greminger www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On September 27, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia D.Tsogtbaatar met with Secretary-General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Thomas Greminger and exchanged opinions on bilateral cooperation.