Mongolia’s foreign trade turnover expanded by 16.9 percent year on year to USD 20.1 billion in the first 10 months of this year, according to data released by the country’s National Statistics Office

The country registered a surplus of USD 4.9 billion in foreign trade balance, mainly due to a significant increase in the exports of mining products, which accounted for over 90 percent of the mineral-rich country’s total exports in the January-October period.

The Asian country traded with 161 economies worldwide in the period.

IRU Secretary General Umberto de Pretto and the President of Mongolia have held high-level talks on measures to further streamline trade and professionalise the country’s road transport industry. A rapidly evolving transit and transport hub, Mongolia can cement its land-linked status with tried-and-tested UN conventions and professionalisation, IRU Secretary General Umberto de Pretto stressed during his meeting with U.Khurelsukh, the President of Mongolia.

Mongolia has already made significant development gains over recent years. IRU encourages Mongolia to continue acceding to other key UN conventions in addition to TIR and CMR to further elevate its role as a trade and transit hub.

Umberto de Pretto also emphasised that TIR is the key trade facilitation tool ensuring seamless cross-border movements and enabling the implementation of the WTO’s Agreement on Trade Facilitation and the UNESCAP’s Agreement on the Asian Highway Network.

The two also discussed the ongoing professionalisation of Mongolia’s road transport industry. IRU member the National Road Transport Association of Mongolia (NARTAM) is continuing its efforts to establish a framework for harmonised training, compliant with high-level international quality standards. With support from regional development partners, IRU and NARTAM will launch a major project to implement IRU Academy training programmes in 2024.

Umberto de Pretto also congratulated the President for coming from a family of heroes, as his parents and brothers were drivers, highlighting that this year’s IRU Grand Prix d’Honneur was awarded to all commercial drivers for their heroism during the pandemic, natural disasters and conflicts.

The focus was put on additional road transport capacity-building initiatives related to the geographical expansion of Mongolian operations, the transport of dangerous and perishable goods, as well as soft measures, notably the full deployment of TIR-EPD, allowing transport companies to send advance cargo information to customs for better risk management, and the implementation of express TIR Green Lanes at borders between Mongolia and its neighbours.

A UN expert welcomed steps Mongolia has taken to improve the independence of its judiciary since its transition to democracy in 1990, in particular the strides taken to implement human rights recommendations made by international bodies.

“Mongolia must seize the moment to complete the transformation it has begun,” said Margaret Satterthwaite, the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers at the end of her official visit to the country. “I welcome Mongolia’s evidence-based approach to reform and call for further action to solidify an independent justice system with human rights at its core.”

The Special Rapporteur visited courts and prosecutors’ offices in Ulaanbaatar, Selenge province, Mandal soum, and the district of Baganuur, where she met with committed professionals. She also witnessed the damaging impact of the lack of investment on the judiciary, including inadequate, inaccessible, and insecure facilities for judges, staff and court users. “Mongolian Judges are underpaid and often overworked,” the expert said. “Together with their assistants, they deserve to be recognised for their dedication in the face of these difficult conditions.”

Satterthwaite urged Mongolia to provide robust funding to secure the future of the justice system, including by dedicating a guaranteed percentage of the national budget to the judiciary.

Measures comparable to those taken to strengthen the judiciary should now be implemented in the prosecutorial service. “Appointments, transfers and promotions should have an objective and transparent basis,” she said. “In addition, an independent body should be established to oversee discipline and provide accountability.”

The Special Rapporteur commended civil society for their work to assess and monitor the independence of the judiciary. She was concerned that surveys highlighted a lack of trust in the judiciary and heard that social media is being used to disparage judges, including by holders of public office. “It is imperative that the government take measures to rebuild public trust,” Satterthwaite said. “This is an opportunity for the government to better explain the important role the judiciary plays in upholding a fair system where everyone can participate equally.”

Satterthwaite observed that the government is responsible for protecting the rights of all people in Mongolia and ensuring they have access to justice without discrimination. “I call on all actors to support and complement the essential work undertaken by civil society organisations to extend access to justice, including to rural herders, persons with disabilities, and the LGBTQ community.”

The expert will present a report containing her findings and recommendations on the visit to the Human Rights Council in June 2024.

Minister of Environment and Tourism of Mongolia Bat-Erdene Bat-Ulzii met Ambassador of Germany Helmut Rudolf Kulitz Head of the Development Cooperation Department Ido Weber, Montsame reported.

Minister B. Bat-Erdene expressed gratitude for jointly implementing projects and programs through the Green Climate Fund, Global Environmental Facility, and Adaptation Fund and for concerning the issue of permafrost in Mongolia. The Minister also emphasized that the two countries have been developing cooperation in forests, biological diversity, nature protection, and climate change for a long time.

Ambassador Helmut Kulitz emphasized the call by international financial institutions not to finance activities that harm the environment. Noting that investment in environmental protection can be increased, Helmut Kulitz asked to bring together similar ideas and views of the two countries at the upcoming 2023 UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), which convenes in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from November 30 to December 12.

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism is working with professional organizations to finalize action plans on climate change adaptation within 2023. Climate change mitigation involves many issues including agriculture, pastures, land use, water, forests, desertification, and soil and vegetation protection. The two sides agreed to convene with the participation of experts of the two sides before the COP28 Conference to coordinate their actions.

Minister Bat-Erdene noted that a majority of tourists who visited Mongolia in 2023 were from France, and he stressed that Mongolia is interested in increasing the flow of tourists from Germany. As the government announced 2023-2025 as the Years to Visit Mongolia and referring to the experience as a co-organizer in the international exhibitions ITB Berlin and CMT, the Minister requested support for the Years to Visit Mongolia to promote the tourism industry.

China and Mongolia conducted the "Border Defense Cooperation-2023" joint exercise on Nov. 10, China's Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday.

The exercise was carried out in the border region near a prefecture in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, according to Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson for the ministry.

Concentrated on joint actions between the two countries to curb border crimes, the event involved drills on joint command, joint reconnaissance, operational disposition and joint action, Zhang said, adding that the exercise has enhanced the two militaries' operational capabilities of safeguarding the security and stability in border regions.

The two sides also organized activities such as weapons and equipment displays, and other military-related cultural exchanges after the exercise, Zhang said.

After completing a massive infill and extension campaign at its Kharmagtai copper-gold project in Mongolia, Xanadu Mines has shifted its focus to new discoveries outside the site’s current mineral resource.

The company is now operating three diamond drill rigs at Kharmagtai, with four deep holes planned to target mineralisation below its biggest deposit identified to date at White Hill. Results from the first hole sunk at White Hill have already extended the mineralised system by more than 600m, with a massive 1080m intercept grading 0.06 grams per tonne gold and 0.17 per cent copper from 491m for 0.21 per cent copper equivalent or 0.41g/t gold equivalent.

Xanadu says the deep drill campaign has been designed to ensure that a potential high-grade, large-scale and deeper “Oyu Tolgoi”-style deposit is discovered early in the prefeasibility process, allowing optimal infrastructure decisions to be made. Oyu Tolgoi, in the South Gobi region of Mongolia, is one of the world’s biggest known copper and gold deposits.

Shallow drilling at a second cluster has also extended mineralisation 800m along strike from the current mineral resource limit and within proximity of the company’s high-grade Stockwork Hill deposit. Initial drilling results show a 144m intercept at 0.18g/t gold and 0.25 per cent copper that management believes may be a faulted offset of Stockwork Hill.

Three more clusters are being targeted with a focus on extensions to known deposits and new porphyry copper-gold systems. An additional 9000m of diamond drilling has been completed in 41 shallow holes, with more than half returning significant intercepts.

Highlights show a 15m hit at 1.26 per cent copper from 127m including 5.95m grading 2.97 per cent from 132m.

Kharmagtai has a mineral resource estimate of 1.1 billion tonnes for 3 million tonnes of contained copper and 8 million ounces of gold. Management expects to provide an updated mineral resource before the end of this year, while its prefeasibility study (PFS) is due to be completed during the second half of next year.

Following the completion of more than 52,000 metres of infill and extensional drilling at Kharmagtai, our focus has shifted to the very exciting deep and shallow discovery drilling; aimed at making new economic discoveries outside the current MRE. Following successful delivery of higher-grade mineralisation from the infill and extensional drilling program, this purposeful program represents our most significant exploration pursuit in recent years.

Xanadu Mines vice president exploration Dr Andrew Stewart

Earlier this year, the company completed two phases of its strategic partnership with Chinese copper giant Zijin Mining, giving it access to funding for its current round of exploration.

The deal saw Zijin invest US$35 million (AU$52 million), funds which will also be used to complete the Kharmagtai prefeasibility study. A 50-50 joint venture has been created between the two partners at a project level, with Xanadu the operator on the ground.

The partnership has allocated 18 months to knock over its PFS, while an earlier scoping study identified several upside opportunities that could materially upgrade the economics of the project.

One of the reasons the early Chinese emperors built the Great Wall was to stop the invasion of Mongolian hordes. With the size and scope of the copper-gold resource Xanadu is building at Kharmagtai, the sentiment between the two countries may now have been reversed.

Australia’s lithium and nickel producer IGO (ASX: IGO) is standing by its incoming chief executive officer, Ivan Vella, after Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) sacked on Wednesday its former aluminum boss for an alleged breach of confidentiality.

Vella, who spent two decades at Rio Tinto, was already due to leave the mining giant in December. He is set to replace acting CEO Matt Dusci, who took the reins after former top executive Peter Bradford suddenly died last year.

IGO’s board has been under fire over its costly takeover of rival Western Areas, but it was the impending arrival of Vella which sparked a response from chairman Mike Nossal.

Incoming chief executive officer, Ivan Vella. (Image courtesy of IGO.)

“I need to acknowledge the news overnight which relates to Ivan’s departure from his previous employer,” he said in Thursday’s shareholder meeting.

“The Board is engaging with Ivan to more deeply understand the circumstances … however, it is our expectation that Ivan will start with IGO in early December as planned,” Nossal said.

Shares in the battery metals producer fell 4.3% to A$8.85 each by Thursday’s close as IGO also said it had missed the lower end of production guidance at one of its nickel mines due to a fire at its Nova nickel-copper-cobalt mine’s power plant.

IGO flagged a material writedown of nearly A$1 billion in the June financial year due to ballooning capital costs at its newly acquired Cosmos nickel project in Western Australia.

Year-to-date the stock has lost almost 33% of its value, leaving the Perth-based miner with a market capitalization of A$6.7 billion ($4.3bn).

The Mongolian Sustainable Cashmere Platform at UNDP and the Improving Adaptive Capacity and Risk Management of Rural Communities in Mongolia (ADAPT) project funded by the Green Climate Fund jointly organized the first ever Sustainable Cashmere Day-2023 event. The event took place in Ulaanbaatar bringing together government officials, the private sector, herders and cooperatives, academy, international organizations, and buyers to discuss importance of sustainable cashmere and Mongolia’s efforts towards making the cashmere more sustainable.

The goals and priorities of the Government of Mongolia on adaptation and mitigation of climate change were discussed on the event as well as the requirements and importance of sustainable and environmentally friendly livestock production. The event aimed to raise public awareness of environmentally friendly and sustainable cashmere, to support collaboration between stakeholders, and to promote industry’s best sustainable practices.

The cashmere sector is vital for Mongolia as it sustains the livelihoods of approximately one million pastoralist herders and represents Mongolia’s global brand. Herders generate about 80 percent of the country’s agricultural sector output, playing a pivotal role in diversifying the economy. Event also recognized the best herders, herder organizations, cooperatives, and cashmere industry producers who have made progress in meeting the sustainability policy and sustainable cashmere standards in Mongolia in the eight categories.

Stakeholders of the cashmere supply chain such as representatives of herders, cooperatives, national and international cashmere factories, and industry experts, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry and Ministry of Environment and Tourism discussed the policies, goals, and challenges of sustainable cashmere and animal husbandry adapted to climate change and highlighted good industry practices. Mongolian Sustainable Cashmere Platform is a collaborative umbrella mechanism established to support and enhance trust and leadership to accelerate the long-term sustainable development of the cashmere industry and to clarify the responsibilities of the stakeholders. The platform is working to identify and implement measures to eliminate the main causes that limit the sustainable development of the Mongolian cashmere industry.