China & Saudi Arabia sign agreements worth $65bn www.rt.com

Saudi Arabia's King Salman started a month-long Asian tour with a visit to Beijing, where the two countries signed a broad range of deals potentially worth $65 billion.
According to Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Ming, they agreed on memorandums of understanding, involving everything from energy to space.

TPP signatories agree to continue talks www.nhk.or.jp

Ministers of the remaining 11 member countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership have agreed to keep talking, despite the US withdrawal from the pact in January.

Cabinet determines nature reserve boundaries www.gogo.mn

During its regular meeting on March 15, the Cabinet approved the boundaries for nature reserves in two aimags.
Firstly, the boundary of the Tost, Toson Bumba Mountain Nature Reserve in Gurvantes soum of Umnugobi aimag was determined as 743058.00 ha area.
In connection with the decision, corresponding officials and ministers were ordered to reach consensus on termination of mining licenses within the nature reserve boundary with the license holders. The Cabinet’s decision increases the total area of nationally protected areas by 0.4 percent.
Secondly, the Cabinet defined the boundary of Noyon Mountain Range Nature Reserve which covers territories of Mandal soum, Selenge aimag and Bornuur and Batsumber soums of Tuv aimag. The nature reserve’s boundary has been finalized as 11127.05 ha area in Selenge aimag and 650.0 ha area in Tuv aimag.
Thus, 11837.05 ha area surrounding the Noyon Mountain Range Nature Reserve is now protected by the Government, increasing the total area of protected areas by 0.04 percent. There are 5 special mining and exploration licenses in the now protected area.
The Noyon Mountain Range is rich in historical and archaeological remains. Corresponding organizations and governors were assigned to hold talks with related sides on the issue of nature reserve compensations and register them to database.

MIAT to increase flight frequency and routes www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Yesterday, March 15, Minister of Road and Transportation Development D.Ganbat visited MIAT Airline National flag carrier, and stated that the company would be supported with government policy and its flight frequency and routes would be increased.

Premier tells to cut expensive ceremonies for local visits www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On Wednesday, Prime Minister J.Erdenebat directed all aimag governors to stop hosting expensive welcoming and farewell ceremonies for government officials, going on local visits.

Strong interest in Mongolia at PDAC; investors liked Mining Minister’s candid responses; OT LLC success is now at the center of Mongolia’s unique selling proposition NAMBC Newsletter

Attendance at the March 5 Mongolia@PDAC investors forum during the annual convention of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada in Toronto was the highest of any prior Mongolia event at PDAC. “When Mining Minister Ts. Dashdorj spoke,” noted NAMBC Chairman Frank Herbert, “it was standing-room only.” Advance registration – 300 -- for the event was more than double the highest previous level. The success, stability and smooth expansion of Oyu Tolgoi LLC was front and center in Mongolia’s unique selling proposition by both government and private sector speakers, which included Dr. Galsan Batsukh, Chairman of OT LLC, who was Mongolia’s first resident ambassador to Canada, as well as the CEOs of other established foreign miners in Mongolia who have been able to attract significant new capital investment as investors warm again to Mongolia’s prospects, including presentations by Steppe Gold, Aspire, Xanadu and Erdene Resource Development (ERD).

At and on the fringes of the PDAC meeting, Minister Dashdorj and other government officials emphasized that:

--Mongolia has no plans to change the size of its stake in the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine and no intention of changing the terms of its relationship with OT;

--Mongolia intends to double the amount of land available for exploration and hopes to build a copper smelting plant; and that the Mineral Resource and Petroleum Authority of Mongolia (MRPAM) will improve the transparency and methodology of bidding for new exploration licenses, in response to wide-spread complaints from both domestic and international investors about the deficiencies of the previous computerized system;

--the government is seriously examining issues involved in the discounted royalty for gold sold to the central bank, which expires on January 1, 2019 and which has been a major incentive to gold mining investment; and that the government was in serious discussions with Centerra on moving forward with the Gatsuurt gold mine, which is the only major new mining project that is even close to shovel-ready;

-- the government will take a fresh look at resolving problems with the vast number of mining licenses abruptly suspended because of overly-broad definitions of environmental considerations in the so-called “Long Name Law;”

-- the government’s plan for amending the mining law would not affect the basic structure of existing law on royalties and other basics but was rather intended to codify technical and regulatory requirements (such as on reclamation and restoration) that were missing or unclear in prior versions of the law;

--the government continues to study options for the Tavan Tolgoi LLC coal mine with interested investors and relevant government ministers with no fixed timetable for a final agreement.

From Toronto, Minister Dashdorj went on to Ottawa for the seventh Canada-0Mongolia Roundtable Meeting on Intergovernmental Cooperation on March 9 in Ottawa. The amicable meeting was co-chaired by Dashdorj and the Assistant Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Canada, Mr. Donald Bobiash; Mongolian Ambassador to Canada R. Altangerel and Canadian Ambassador to Mongolia Ed Jager also participated. Concurring that both nations highly valued Canada’s status as a “Third Neighbor,” both sides agreed to activate collaboration in mining, agriculture, infrastructure and environment, noting that the FIPA investment promotion agreement would help boost two-way trade and investment. The two sides agreed to improve efficiency and broaden the scope of development cooperation; six projects are currently underway in mining, agriculture, public and other sectors.

Trump urges Toyota to build plants in US www.nhk.or.jp

President Donald Trump has again urged Toyota to make more cars in America during a meeting with auto executives in the US city of Detroit on Wednesday.

Copper concentrate processing plant to be built in Khanbogd soum www.gogo.mn

On Mar 16th, plenary session of the Government approved the proposal to build copper concentrate processing plant in Khanbogd soum which is submitted by the Ministry of Mining. 
The processing plant will be capable of processing one million tonnes of copper concentrate per year and is planned to be commissioned by 2020. 
Experts ans specialists of mining industry considered that the plant is suitable to be built near Oyutolgoi deposit in Khanbagd soum, taking into advantages of raw materials, transportation and energy transmission. 
Ts.Dashdorj, Ministry of Mining is obliged to choose the investor of the project. 
At least 10 percent of the total stock of the processing plant is allowed to be owned by the state without cost and investment fee. 
Moreover D.Oyunkhorol, Minister of Environment was obliged to study the possible option for water supply of "Oyutolgoi`s concentration plant", "Tavantolgoi coal washing plant", "Tavantolgoi power plant", "Copper concentration processing plant" from "Orkhon gobi", "Kherlen gobi" and "Ongi gobi" projects and submit to the Government.

Tesla to raise more than 1 bn U.S. dollars for producing new electric car www.xinhuanet.com

SAN FRANCISCO, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Tesla Motors, Inc. said Wednesday it plans to offer 250 million U.S. dollars worth of common stock and 750 million dollars in convertible notes due in 2022, to help finance its production of upcoming Model 3 electric car.

GE signs deals with Chinese firms to enhance competitiveness www.chinadaily.com

SHANGHAI - General Electric (GE) has signed a series of agreements with Chinese companies to boost bilateral cooperation and enhance global competitiveness, according to an announcement by the company.