Go back to the start of the mining industry’s upswing around 18 months ago and $227 billion of wealth has been created for shareholders of the MINING.com Top 50.

The top 10 make up more than half the sector's market value and after underperforming the rest of the field during the first half of 2017, the big diversified and base metals companies caught up rapidly.

Of the gains since end-June nearly 65% have accrued to the top 10 largest mining companies. Year-to-date just two companies – Vale and Glencore – constitute 27% of market capitalization growth.

Gold companies have had a tough go of it this year with top producers Newmont Mining and Barrick Gold falling out of the top 10. Newmont overtook Barrick as the world’s most valuable gold miner this year, but was pushed out of the top tier by diversified giant Anglo American which continues to climb the rankings after years in the wilderness.

New entrant to the top 10 is high-flying China Molybdenum, the best performing mining stock in the world this year with a 150% gain in value year-to-date. The company started the year in 31st spot. The Luoyang City-based base metal giant is now worth more than $20 billion (also the bar for admittance to the top ten) as its acquisition spree of recent years begins to pay off in a big way.

Another company making the most of the rally in copper and zinc this year is KAZ Minerals which joins the Top 50 for the first time. The Kazakh company is up 120% in 2017 and worth $4.7 billion. At the beginning of 2017 a market value of less than $4 billion was enough for entry into the MINING.com Top 50.

Only nine out of 50 firms are trading in negative territory for 2017 with Russian operations and potash proving a deadly combination. Russian diamond miner Alrosa has had a dismal year suffering a similar fall as that of Uralkaliy, the worst performing mining stock this year. The potash producer's 24% decline drops the company from position number 30 at the start of the year down to a 44 ranking.

Dropping out of the Top 50 is German-based potash miner K+S after losing over 10% of its value in 2017. Of the four remaining fertilizer miners in the Top 50, Potashcorp of Saskatchewan bucked the weaker trend with an 8.4% gain this year as it looks to close the merger with US-based Agrium to create the world’s largest producer of the crop nutrient.

During the event, participants from Mongolian and Chinese business sectors discussed opportunities to implement climate green projects jointly in Ulaanbaatar.
In accordance with Paris Agreement, Mongolia is obliged to mitigate GHG emissions by 14 percent by 2030. As Ulaanbaatar is the largest GHG producer of the country, the city needs to have independent policy and plan of actions. Ulaanbaatar city's contribution to mitigate climate changes was defined to be 7 percent or the half of Mongolia’s contribution.

At the forum hosted by the Governor Office of Ulaanbaatar and Environment Department of Ulaanbaatar city and others, Mongolian side made a presentation on projects of Ulaanbaatar city’s contribution to mitigate climate changes, law on energy saving, relevant national program, Ulaanbaatar city’s plan of climate investment, construction of green schools and kindergarten as well as reduction of heat loss of residential apartments. Chinese association of energy service provided a report on energy saving and energy service business development. Business organizations of two countries also held bilateral meetings.

Mongolian has diplomatic relation with 186 countries. Currently, the country's passport holders can enter nearly 30 countries for 21-90 days without a visa.

The deal was signed by S.Erdene, Mongolia’s Consul General to Macao, and Chan Hoi Fan, Secretary for Administration and Justice of the MSAR, Montsame reports Thursday.

The signing ceremony was attended by Ambassador of Mongolia to China D.Gankhuyag, Yuan Hong, Deputy Representative of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the MSAR and other officials of the two sides.

The agreement allows Mongolian citizen who sentenced in Macao to be transfered and imprisoned at home country. Also it will give stimulus to boost cooperation between the Ministries of Law Affairs of Mongolia and Macao and other fields.

Mongolia's official gold reserves had increased to 18.4 tons, it added.

The growth was attributed to the implementation of the first and second phases of the IMF's Extended Fund Facility program in Mongolia, a significant increase in gold purchases by the Bank of Mongolia, the renewal of a currency swap agreement with China's central bank, it said.

The restoration of investors' confidence in Mongolia and the Mongolian government's policy such as the implementation of the Economic Recovery Program 2016-2020 and the reduction of budget expenditures also led to the increase in foreign exchange and gold reserves, according to the bank.

Experts with the Mongolian central bank predict that by the end of 2019Mongolia's foreign exchange reserves will reach 3.8 billion dollars, and by 2020, 4 billion dollars.

On Dec. 15, the IMF Executive Board completed the first and second reviews of Mongolia's performance under the Extended Fund Facility program and decided to allocate 79.1 million dollars from a 5.5 billion bailout fund to relieve Mongolia's debt burden and stabilize the local currency.

In May, the IMF approved a three-year extended arrangement under Extended Fund Facility for Mongolia in a total amount of about 434.3 million dollars to support the country's economic reform program.

The IMF has raised its 2017 growth projection for Mongolia to 3.3 percent from 2 percent.

The MSE ALL Index decreased by 0.2 percent to stand at 1,182.41 points. The MSE market cap stands at MNT2,494,025,907,347.

The loan had already been extended twice until mid-December, as Noble (NOBG.SI) battles to recover from years of crisis.

“The company has obtained an extension on a waiver in relation to the financial covenants in its committed unsecured revolving credit facility to 18 May, 2018,” Noble said in a written statement on Thursday.

The company, which has bank debt of about $1.2 billion and bonds aggregating about $2.3 billion, did not indicate the size of the credit being extended.

“Noble ... continues to be in discussions with its creditors,” it said. “No assurance can be given as to the outcome of these discussions.”

Noble’s chairman Paul Brough, a restructuring specialist who was appointed this year, said last Friday it was the company’s priority to keep out of insolvency.

Noble was plunged into crisis in 2015 when Iceberg Research started questioning its accounts, resulting in sharp share price falls, credit downgrades and its bonds trading at distressed levels. Noble has refuted such criticism.

Once Asia’s biggest commodity merchant with ambitions to rival dominant European trading houses like Glencore (GLEN.L) and Vitol, Noble’s stock price has crashed from a peak of S$17 ($12.65) in 2011 to 25 cents. That gives it a market capitalization of just S$318 million, compared with over $70 billion for Glencore.

Its financial woes resulted in the company’s retreat from most financial commodity markets, including oil, natural gas and even coal, Noble’s traditional strongpoint.

The downsizing has also played a part in Noble’s failure to profit from resurgent commodity prices this year.

Despite soaring oil, natural gas and coal markets, the company lost around $3 billion in the first nine months of this year.

The turmoil at the company has also resulted in several high level departures, including chief executive officer (CEO) Yusuf Alireza in 2016, and co-CEO Jeffrey Frase in November.

Mongolia produces only about 4 billion kilowatt hours of power annually, but relies on imports from its northern neighbour Russia for around four percent of its current consumption and is in talks to import power from China.