Four additional drills, retrofitted with autonomous drilling system technology, were recently deployed at the company’s Yandicoogina mine, Rio said, which add to the existing seven autonomous drills at the West Angelas mine.

A further nine drills will be deployed by the end of the year, bringing the total fleet to 20. All of them will be monitored remotely by operators in Rio Tinto’s Operations Centre in Perth, more than 1,500 kilometres away, as it has been done so far with no reported injuries to date.

Kellie Parker, managing director, planning, integration and assets, iron ore, said the expansion will bring significant productivity gains, bringing improved accuracy and consistency while also enabling safer drilling.

Rio Tinto has also announced plans to have a network of driverless trains in Western Australia by the end of this year.
“The deployment of additional rigs, operated from our operations centre in Perth, offers significant advantages as part of our integrated system, which optimizes our autonomous trains, trucks and drills and provides increased operability and flexibility,” Parker said.

“As pioneers of automation and innovation, we continue exploring new technologies to ensure Rio Tinto remains a leader in the global mining industry.”

The mining giant is currently focused on adopting automated technologies across different areas of its operations. About 20% of its almost 400 haul trucks currently operating in the Pilbara are autonomous and Rio Tinto expects to boost that number too.

“We are studying future additions to our autonomous truck fleet that we expect will contribute to our $5 billion productivity program, specifically Iron Ore’s commitment to deliver $500 million of additional free cash flow from 2021 onwards,” Rio Tinto iron ore chief executive Chris Salisbury said in January.

Rio has also announced plans to have a network of driverless trains in Western Australia by the end of this year. In October, it completed its first long-haul journey with a completely autonomous locomotive.

Getting to this point hasn’t been easy. The actual commissioning of the autonomous trains project has been put off a few times, partly due to software problems.

Delays with the implementation of autonomous iron ore trains hurt Rio Tinto’s output in 2016. The miner ended up producing 330 million tonnes, down from the original target of 350 million tonnes.

All automation initiatives are part of the “Mine of the Future” project the company launched in 2008, which also included setting up an operations centre near Perth airport.

The first MON-30 bus will be ready for its road trials before the Naadam Festival which will be held on 10-12 July.

Mongolian companies remodelled 126 electric buses in 2007-2017.

The corporation has been fighting for more than a year to stave off the Mongolian government’s push to gain full control of the Erdenet mine by buying MCC’s 49 percent holding for about $400 million.

The battle is being watched closely by international investors who are hoping that Mongolia’s copper potential can help to meet increasing demand linked to electric vehicles and electrification across the globe.

In the latest in a series of court hearings, Mongolia’s administrative court on Monday said that the government had no legal right to take over the Erdenet shares without any formal engagement with MCC.

MCC Chairman Munkhbaatar Myagmar issued a statement on Wednesday, saying the government had broken bilateral investment treaties as well as domestic laws.

“MCC is taking legal advice on commencing possible international arbitration proceedings,” the statement said.

A government spokesman referred to a constitutional court ruling in February that found MCC never had the right to the 49 percent stake.

“The administrative court’s decision cannot challenge or deny the constitutional court’s ruling,” he told Reuters.

MCC said it expects the government to appeal against Monday’s decision and the case could return to the supreme court.

MCC purchased the Erdenet mine from Russia in 2016 with the approval of then prime minister Chimed Saikhanbileg, though parliament says it never endorsed the sale.

Erdenet is one of the region’s largest copper mines, producing 530,000 tonnes of copper concentrate a year.

Mongolia’s proximity to China, the world’s biggest copper consumer, adds to its appeal to international investors who can provide foreign direct investment to help Mongolia to meet the terms of its IMF bailout deal.

Howevr, concerns over governance and rising resource nationalism are a deterrent, investors say. (Reporting by Barbara Lewis in London and Munkhchimeg Davaasharav in Ulaanbaatar Editing by David Goodman)

Higher commodity prices and resurgent Chinese demand for coal has powered growth and government revenues, pulling the landlocked economy back from the brink of a classic emerging market crisis. Controls on government spending have also helped.

The scorecard speaks for itself. Twelve months ago yields on government bonds were almost 20 percent, debt was close to 100 percent of GDP and reserves had slumped to just two months of imports, according to the IMF. The currency had fallen by 20 percent.

Now, a growth rate of 5.1 percent in 2017 means the fiscal balance has improved by 15 percentage points of GDP and the government is ticking all boxes required by its creditors.

The short-term macroeconomic stabilization is really very dramatic and very strong," Markus Rodlauer Deputy Director, Asia and Pacific Department at the IMF told reporters last month.

Still, the $11-billion economy nestled between China and Russia isn’t yet out of the danger zone. The IMF has warned that structural reforms still need to be implemented and much depends on the longevity of the upswing in commodity prices. Ratings firm Moody’s Investors Service has cautioned that Mongolia’s credit profile is vulnerable to that price cycle.

While China’s coking coal imports from Mongolia surged 132 percent in March from a month earlier, they were 5.6 percent lower from a year ago -- falling 26 percent in the first quarter, according to customs data.

"The turn around is more based on good luck as commodity prices recovered due to the economic upturn globally," said Lutz Roehmeyer, CIO of Capitulum Asset Management, who has previously invested in Mongolian bonds.

— With assistance by Terrence Edwards

"We're very happy to welcome Papua New Guinea and Kenya as prospective members of AIIB," AIIB Vice President and Corporate Secretary Danny Alexander said.

"AIIB now has 86 approved members from six continents. This shows a strong commitment to promoting infrastructure development through rules-based multilateral cooperation with high standards of governance," Alexander said.

The two prospective members will officially join AIIB once they complete the required domestic processes and deposit the first installment of capital with the bank.

The shares allocated to the new prospective members come from AIIB's existing pool of unallocated shares, according to AIIB.

With 57 signatories at its launch in January 2016, the Beijing-headquartered AIIB aims to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia and beyond by investing in sustainable infrastructure and other productive sectors.

S&P warned about risks in revenue generation, despite positive performances in economic and budget indicators due to commodity price increases.

As there remains a need to improve institutional governance, S&P has left its credit ratings for Mongolia unchanged. According to S&P, Mongolia's ratings could rise if the country’s economy performs better than the agency’s projections for the coming year.

However, S&P warned that it would lower its ratings for Mongolia in the case of negative performances in external sectors and if government debt rises. S&P analysts have projected that Mongolia's GDP will grow by five percent in 2018.

As mentioned in the presentation by Chairman of Board U.Byambasuren, the company has 15 billion admitted shares, of which 12 billion were issued. The Government owns 65 percent of the issue shares, and 14.6 percent or 2.511 million shares are owned by citizens, 0.06 percent, owned by entities. In the fiscal year of 2017, ETT made net profit of MNT 461.1 billion and accumulated profit of MNT 36.0 billion.

The company held a shareholders’ meeting on April 27th of 2018 and decided against distributing dividends. However, it has been estimated that MNT 3,000 would be distributed to each citizen that holds the company’s share. As per the calculation, several alternatives have been formulated.

After the presentation, President Battulga said: “The locally owned company known as ‘small Tavan Tolgoi’ has distributed profit of MNT 90.0 billion. Meanwhile, regardless of its performance that resulted in MNT 461.1 billion after taxes, Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi is being negligent when it comes to distribution of profit. I understand that you have considered an option of giving away dividends, but the amount totals to MNT 3,000 per shareholder. This would not appropriate. Therefore I am putting forward an alternative."

“Today, ordinary citizens possess 14.6 percent of all shares. The percentage must be increased to 100 percent. A draft law is going to be submitted to the parliament on this issue. If adopted, the law will enable distribution of profits of not MNT 3,000, but MNT 300,000 and more. If the Parliament resolves to distribute shares to 100 percent of citizens, the mission of zeroing people’s debts, which mission was tasked to me upon my nomination to the Presidential election, would become possible through several years of profit distribution. It would also be a harmonious implementation of 6.1. of the Constitution, which provides that natural resources are the property of the people,” highlighted the President.

Present at the meeting was also the Chief of the Presidential Office, Mr. Z.Enkhbold. He remarked that Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi is a possession of the citizens according to the law, and therefore, the company needs to distribute dividends.

Source: President.mn

Sant Maral Foundation releases politbarometer of March

33.6 percent of surveyed in Ulaanbaatar and 25.8-56-9 percent in Sukhbaatar, Selenge and Bayankhongor aimags voted for Mr. Battulga. In Khuvsgul and Dundgobi, the President was ranked second and third with 30.4 and 25.4 percent votes respectively.

Chairman of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) Enkhbayar Nambar, MPRP’s nominee for President in 2017 Ganbaatar Sainkhuu and Chairman of Mongolian People’s Party and Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa followed the current president.

Oyunbayar.N

Mr. Lushnikov is also a full right representative of the Far Eastern Federal District for the Russian President and was among the delegation headed by Yu. P. Trutnev, Minister of the Far Eastern Development, who paid a visit to Mongolia at the end of last week.

In addition, he also expressed that Russia is ready to render all support to Mongolia’s actions in the territory of the Russian Federation, especially in the Far East region of the country. According to Mr. Lushnikov, the agreement includes tax reductions and supports from local administrations.

Moreover, he noted that trade turnover between Mongolia and Russia is now only USD 1.7 billion and is in need for active measures to increase. Trade with the Far Eastern Federal District totals USD 42 million and is highly dissatisfying. Therefore, he called for the transportation ministers of both countries to cooperate actively with initiatives in order to increase trade by 12 times to USD 500 million in the first few years.

In a statement issued by the Ulaanbaatar Railway, it is expected that the agreement will be signed during a nearest government official’s visit of the two countries. The next high-level meeting is expected to be Mongolian Prime Minister’s visit to Russia for the Saint Petersburg’s Economic Forum, which will take place near the end of May.

Bayar.N

India’s plans to deepen ties with Mongolia, sandwiched between Russia and China, comes at a time when Beijing is expanding its influence in Delhi’s periphery in South Asia, with analysts terming Indian push as an instance of ‘politico-diplomatic astuteness’.

Swaraj’s visit was the first visit by Indian foreign minister to Mongolia in 42 years. Prime Minister Modi had visited Mongolia in 2015 and a plan for a comprehensive partnership was in the works since then, the officials indicated.

“The visit of PM Modi in May 215 to Mongolia saw the two countries raising the partnership to a strategic level. Now that the two countries would be further deepening the ties across sectors,” said a government official who asked not to be named.

According to the agreed minutes of India-Mongolia joint committee, which Swaraj co-chaired on April 25, the two countries have agreed to promote the links between ministries and agencies from both sides, including closer ties between their national security councils.

“The two sides take part in joint exercises and they wish to step up the security cooperation. The forthcoming visit of home minister Rajnath Singh comes in this context,” said another official on condition of anonymity.

New Delhi will be hosting senior government officials from Mongolia at premier Indian institutes to train them in public policy and governance, said the minutes of the committee. For example, the Foreign Service Institute, which trains Indian diplomats, will host training programmes for Mongolian diplomats as well.

The two sides also decided to step up the cooperation in the mineral exploration sector and to speed up the plans to set up an oil refinery in Mongolia with an Indian line of credit of $ 1 billion. The two sides also agreed to explore the possibility of direct air connectivity and cooperation in the fields of telecommunication, education and health.

Commodore (retd) C Uday Bhaskar, director of the Society for Policy Studies, said that strengthening ties with Mongolia was ‘long overdue’. “It makes for strategic prudence for Delhi to invest in and be engaged with Mongolia. India’s Buddhist profile is very revered in that country.”

When asked if the China factor was behind India’s engagement, Bhaskar said, “Even if this is not stated explicitly, political geography is not an existential reality. Politico-diplomatic astuteness lies in maximising small opportunities and margins when they present themselves. Delhi has been diffident for decades.”