1 PRIME MINISTER OYUN-ERDENE VISITS EGIIN GOL HYDROPOWER PLANT PROJECT SITE WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/30      2 ‘I FELT CAUGHT BETWEEN CULTURES’: MONGOLIAN MUSICIAN ENJI ON HER BEGUILING, BORDER-CROSSING MUSIC WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM PUBLISHED:2025/04/30      3 POWER OF SIBERIA 2: ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY OR GEOPOLITICAL RISK FOR MONGOLIA? WWW.THEDIPLOMAT.COM PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      4 UNITED AIRLINES TO LAUNCH FLIGHTS TO MONGOLIA IN MAY WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      5 SIGNATURE OF OIL SALES AGREEMENT FOR BLOCK XX PRODUCTION WWW.RESEARCH-TREE.COM  PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      6 MONGOLIA ISSUES E-VISAS TO 11,575 FOREIGNERS IN Q1 WWW.XINHUANET.COM PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      7 KOREA AN IDEAL PARTNER TO HELP MONGOLIA GROW, SEOUL'S ENVOY SAYS WWW.KOREAJOONGANGDAILY.JOINS.COM  PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      8 MONGOLIA TO HOST THE 30TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF ASIA SECURITIES FORUM WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      9 BAGAKHANGAI-KHUSHIG VALLEY RAILWAY PROJECT LAUNCHES WWW.UBPOST.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      10 THE MONGOLIAN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND FDI: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITY WWW.MELVILLEDALAI.COM  PUBLISHED:2025/04/28      849 ТЭРБУМЫН ӨРТӨГТЭЙ "ГАШУУНСУХАЙТ-ГАНЦМОД" БООМТЫН ТЭЗҮ-Д ТУРШЛАГАГҮЙ, МОНГОЛ 2 КОМПАНИ ҮНИЙН САНАЛ ИРҮҮЛЭВ WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/30     ХУУЛЬ БУСААР АШИГЛАЖ БАЙСАН "БОГД УУЛ" СУВИЛЛЫГ НИЙСЛЭЛ ӨМЧЛӨЛДӨӨ БУЦААВ WWW.NEWS.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/30     МЕТРО БАРИХ ТӨСЛИЙГ ГҮЙЦЭТГЭХЭЭР САНАЛАА ӨГСӨН МОНГОЛЫН ГУРВАН КОМПАНИ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/30     "UPC RENEWABLES" КОМПАНИТАЙ ХАМТРАН 2400 МВТ-ЫН ХҮЧИН ЧАДАЛТАЙ САЛХИН ЦАХИЛГААН СТАНЦ БАРИХААР БОЛОВ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/30     ОРОСЫН МОНГОЛ УЛС ДАХЬ ТОМООХОН ТӨСЛҮҮД ДЭЭР “ГАР БАРИХ” СОНИРХОЛ БА АМБИЦ WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/30     МОНГОЛ, АНУ-ЫН ХООРОНД ТАВДУГААР САРЫН 1-НЭЭС НИСЛЭГ ҮЙЛДЭНЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/29     ЕРӨНХИЙ САЙД Л.ОЮУН-ЭРДЭНЭ ЭГИЙН ГОЛЫН УЦС-ЫН ТӨСЛИЙН ТАЛБАЙД АЖИЛЛАЖ БАЙНА WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/29     Ц.ТОД-ЭРДЭНЭ: БИЧИГТ БООМТЫН ЕРӨНХИЙ ТӨЛӨВЛӨГӨӨ БАТЛАГДВАЛ БУСАД БҮТЭЭН БАЙГУУЛАЛТЫН АЖЛУУД ЭХЛЭХ БОЛОМЖ БҮРДЭНЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/29     MCS-ИЙН ХОЁР ДАХЬ “УХАА ХУДАГ”: БНХАУ, АВСТРАЛИТАЙ ХАМТРАН ЭЗЭМШДЭГ БАРУУН НАРАНГИЙН ХАЙГУУЛЫГ УЛСЫН ТӨСВӨӨР ХИЙЖЭЭ WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/29     АМ.ДОЛЛАРЫН ХАНШ ТОГТВОРЖИЖ 3595 ТӨГРӨГ БАЙНА WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/29    

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Events

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MBCC “Doing Business with Mongolia seminar and Christmas Receptiom” Dec 10. 2024 London UK MBCCI London UK Goodman LLC

NEWS

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World’s No. 2 gold miner is trying to get bigger in copper www.bloomberg.com

For a company with “gold” in its name, Barrick Gold Corp. has become noticeably fixated on copper.
The world’s second-largest bullion producer recently approached First Quantum Minerals Ltd. to discuss a potential takeover, Bloomberg reported last week. And while the move was unsuccessful — Barrick’s informal overtures were rebuffed — its interest in buying a $17 billion copper miner provides the starkest evidence yet of a shifting focus at the company whose origins lie in Nevada’s gold veins.
Mark Bristow, Barrick’s swashbuckling chief executive, has talked for years about his desire to grow in copper. Now, the emphasis may be taking on a greater urgency: Barrick’s gold production has dropped to multi-decade lows, while longstanding industry rival Newmont Corp. recently announced a huge acquisition that will catapult it well out of Barrick’s league in gold.
While gold companies historically prided themselves on being “pure plays” for investors wanting exposure to bullion prices, Barrick sees copper as a strategic commodity underpinned by the demand for electrification. It’s often found alongside gold in orebodies, and can be processed using similar methods.
Copper is critical “if you want to be relevant” in mining, Bristow said on the company’s latest earnings call. “As a gold miner, you’re going to have to grow and include copper in your portfolio.”
Already, the Canadian miner’s biggest investment project is a $7 billion copper-gold project in Pakistan, which Barrick plans to start up in 2028 and could operate for at least four decades. It’s also studying an expansion at its Zambian copper mine, while scouring for new deposits across the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Bristow isn’t alone in his hunt for copper. Mining executives and analysts have been sounding an alarm over growing shortages starting in the mid-2020s, as demand increases for copper in electric vehicles, wind and solar farms and high-voltage cables. The world’s biggest miners are all looking to grow in copper to take advantage of future price rises, at a time when there are few new projects being planned.
However, Barrick may have one advantage over the competition: Bristow has shown he’s willing to venture to riskier regions where many western miners are wary to invest. A geologist by training, the South African executive cultivated a reputation for building gold mines across the Democractic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast and Mali while at Randgold Resources Ltd., the company he founded.
He brought that same approach to Barrick when the company bought Randgold in a no-premium deal in 2019. The company has revived the Reko Diq project in Pakistan after resolving a years-long dispute with the government over a 2011 decision to deny a license for the mine.
Bristow has also spoken openly about copper exploration in both Zambia and Congo. The company is currently in talks with the Congolese government about potential exploration projects, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bristow hasn’t made any big acquisitions since joining Barrick, though he has certainly tried. The company attempted a hostile, no-premium takeover bid for Newmont in 2019 that ultimately failed. He toyed publicly with the idea of a deal with copper miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc. At the same time, he’s been a vocal critic of getting bigger for the sake of it, maintaining that organic growth — not “stupid M&As” — is the best way to stay competitive in an industry with a litany of ill-timed deals.
Responding to the news of Barrick’s approach to First Quantum, analysts pointed to the difficulty in reconciling Bristow’s discipline in M&A with the likelihood that any deal would require a steep premium, given the industrywide scramble for copper assets. (By comparison, BHP Group Ltd. offered a 49% premium to OZ Minerals Ltd.’s undisturbed share price to seal a A$9.6 billion ($6.6 billion) deal for the Australian copper miner.)
Bristow has stressed that Barrick is still, at its core, a gold company. But the firm’s gold production has fallen to its lowest level since 2000 and its shares are down 5% this year. Newmont’s takeover of Newcrest Mining Ltd. would cement its position as the world’s top gold miner. The only metal output that has increased at Barrick since the Randgold merger is copper.
“It’s as strategic as gold is precious,” Bristow said recently.
(By Jacob Lorinc, with assistance from Michael J. Kavanagh, Thomas Biesheuvel, Dinesh Nair and Jack Farchy)
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Global Times: Xi's footprint in Inner Mongolia highlights China's top-down effort in combating desertification www.finance.yahoo.com

BEIJING, June 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- For mankind to have a better life and enjoy sound development, work must be done in combating desertification. Just like rolling a large rock uphill, endeavor in this regard may fall into relapse if any negligence occurs, said Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, at a symposium on strengthening comprehensive prevention and control of desertification and promoting the construction of key ecological projects in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region on June 6.
The president's inspection tour to Inner Mongolia has again highlighted his long-term focus on desertification. Experts said this top-down effort has made China's achievement unique in the world in tackling this environmental challenge.
From June 5 to 6, accompanied by officials from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xi was on a fact-finding mission at a nature reserve, a modern agricultural demonstration park, a forest farm and a water resources department in Bayannur.
On June 6, Xi presided over a symposium in the city of Bayannur on strengthening the comprehensive prevention and control of desertification and promoting the construction of crucial ecological projects, including the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program (TSFP).
After over 40 years of unremitting efforts, China has made remarkable achievements in preventing and controlling desertification, and realized a historic transformation from "sand forcing humans to retreat" to "trees forcing sand to retreat" in key areas, Xi said during a speech at the symposium.
Economic and social development, as well as the ecological outlook in desertification-threatened areas, have undergone earth-shaking changes, Xi said, adding that the hazards of sandstorms and soil erosion have been effectively curbed.
Sandstorms have hit north China more frequently in the past two years because of abnormal weather conditions and climate change.
Inner Mongolia has been at the frontline of desertification, but President Xi's speech emphasized the effort in curbing desertification, and pointed out the scientific and effective way to achieve the goal, an official who attended the symposium told the Global Times.
He said the next step is to speed up green transition in the region, to implement the TSFP projects, and coordinate the tasks of returning farmland to forest and return some farm and grazing lands to a state of grassland.
Top-down effort
Improving the ecological environment has always been discussed by President Xi. During the two sessions in 2022, Xi told lawmakers from Inner Mongolia that the region should unswervingly prioritize ecological conservation and boost green development.
Xi has conducted multiple field trips to areas severely hit by sand damage, including Ningxia, Gansu, and Hebei.
During a 2019 inspection tour to Babusha Forest Farm in the northwestern province of Gansu, he joined local people plowing the sandy land. Using a trench digger skillfully, Xi plowed a two-meter-long trench in the sandy area with the workers in a few moments.
Babusha Forest Farm, located in Northwest China's Gansu province, had long been plagued by severe sandstorms. After years of sand control, the formerly dry and barren land is now covered by vegetation.
Seeing the enormous transformation in this place, Xi praised the workers as being like a "modern-day Yu Gong" for their persistent efforts in controlling sand and transforming the desert into an oasis. Yu Gong, the protagonist of an ancient folk tale, tried to move mountains blocking the path in front of his home and eventually succeeded.
The desertification area in China has been reduced by more than 4.33 million hectares since 2012. A series of significant projects gradually built a green ecological barrier along the sandstorm line in northern China. In particular, the three primary sandy areas of Maowusu, Hunshandake, and Horqin, and the surrounding areas of the Kubuqi Desert, have been transformed into an oasis, according to documents sent to the Global Times by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration last week.
By 2025, China will have a total of 2 million hectares of land of desertification sealed off for protection, with more than 6 million hectares of sandy land newly treated and 1.3 million hectares of rocky and degraded land harnessed, said the administration.
Talking about China's success in tackling desertification in recent years, Yang Fuqiang, a senior advisor on climate change and energy transition with the Energy Research Institute at Peking University, told the Global Times that "China has made top-down efforts for years to address desertification. The central and local governments march together toward the same goal, with continuous environmental policies."
Such seamless cooperation has led to miraculous achievements, making China's effort in this area unique in the world, said Yang.
Intl cooperation urgently needed
During his inspection tour, Xi also called for efforts to extensively carry out international exchanges and cooperation, fulfill the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, actively participate in global desertification control and environmental governance, place strong emphasis on cooperation with neighboring countries, support desertification control and prevention efforts in countries along the route of the Belt and Road Initiative, lead countries in policy dialogue and information sharing, and jointly respond to sand and dust storm disasters.
The sandstorms in North China this year were partly trigged by sparse rainfall, and sand damage to plant cover in Mongolia, experts explained.
When meeting with President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh of Mongolia in Beijing in November 2022, Xi said that China applauds Mongolia's "Billion Trees" initiative, and is ready to discuss with Mongolia the establishment of a cooperation center to combat desertification.
Last year, China and Mongolia signed bilateral documents jointly addressing climate change, desertification and other areas. China held an online seminar to share with Mongolia its experience in addressing desertification in Kubuqi Desert in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to media reports.
China and Mongolia have always cooperated in managing sand and dust, but China could also aid Mongolia with experience and technology. Every year, funding from Chinese government departments and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification is applied for this, the Global Times learned from the Chinese Academy of Forestry.
Cao Xiaoming, a research fellow at the Institute of Desertification Studies under the Chinese Academy of Forestry, told the Global Times that his team monitored drought conditions in the Mongolian Plateau from 2011 to 2018 with remote-sensing techniques, together with scientists in Mongolia.
They found how climate change and human activities have led to dryer earth and desertification in the region, which covers both Mongolia and China's Inner Mongolia. According to Cao, the research is funded by the Chinese side. The results of the research are shared with Mongolian institutes.
Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said the more frequent sandstorms in North China in recent years highlighted the urgency for China and Mongolia as well as other neighboring countries to continue their joint efforts to combat desertification.
A sandstorm is a natural phenomenon that knows no boundaries and can be transmitted via all kinds of routes, said Ma. He said that addressing the problem requires transparent sharing of information and mutual trust, as well as joint efforts from countries in the region.
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Mongolia approaches Indian Government seeking to supply coking coal www.news.mn

Mongolia has initiated talks with the Indian Government seeking facilitation in supplying coking coal to domestic steel companies, source in Indian Ministry of Steel said on 13 June. The source said that representatives of Mongolian Government have informed their Indian counterparts that the several coal washeries will operational by 2024 and Mongolian authorities are seeking joint venture partners for these washeries with guaranteed off-take condition.
However, Indian officials pointed out that there are several issues which need to be sorted out before coking coal could be imported from the country. It was noted that it is for Indian steel companies to enter supply contacts directly with Mongolian mining agencies and Indian Government could only act as facilitator and not in position to act as intermediary to any such imports.
At the same time, from consultations with domestic steel companies it has been learned that major challenge for import coking coal was Mongolia being a landlocked country, there would be logistical challenges and costs of transporting such import through Russia and China.
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World Standard Emeelt Eco-Industrial Park Plan www.montsame.mn

The Urban Planning and Research Institute has developed a Feasibility Study and a partial adjustment to the General Plan of "Emeelt Eco-Industrial Park", the municipally owned enterprise.
The comprehensive plan of the industrial park, which will create more than 5,600 new workplaces envisages a business and community area, an industrial and storage area, and a residential area.
The business and community area covers an area of 10.9 hectares encompassing offices, laboratories, training centers, trade, exhibition, vocational training centers, trade services, and handicraft shops. The industrial and storage area of 17.3 hectares will consist of food storage, cold storage, deep freezer storage, and chemical storage. The residential area is planned as a comfortable residential space for 2160 residents with two kindergartens for 120 children on an area of 4.3 hectares.
It is also planned to build factories for processing 25,584 tons of meat, 98,437 tons of meat by-products, 2,142 tons of combed cashmere, 2,904 tons of combed wool, and 7.5 million skins and hides on a total area of 38.6 hectares. In addition, a 20.1 km long bicycle road will have safety devices, signs, resting, and parking spots that meet relevant standards.
The establishment of Emeelt Eco-Industrial Park, expected to be a world-standard park located in the 13th micro-district of Khan-Uul District targets to decentralize Ulaanbaatar, increasing economic competitiveness, creating workplaces, and producing export-oriented goods. In addition, this park will facilitate running eco-friendly agriculture, transport, and logistics businesses, shopping centers, warehouses, business incubators, vocational training centers, and light industries, and implementing various projects, research, and evaluations, as reports the Media Department of the Governor’s Office of the Capital City.
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Speaker G. Zandanshatar Departs for Russia on an Official Visit www.montsame.mn

At the invitation of Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the State Great Khural (Speaker of the Parliament) G. Zandanshatar departed on an Official Visit to the Russian Federation today. The Official Visit is scheduled to take place from June 18 to 22.
Over the course of the Official Visit, the Speaker will hold official talks with Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko, and Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, and exchange views on expanding bilateral relations in trade, economy, education, culture, and humanitarian sectors. Moreover, the talks will cover future collaborative initiatives within the framework of parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.
As part of the Visit, a document will be signed to establish a joint commission for cooperation between the State Great Khural of Mongolia and the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, according to the Media and Public Relations Department of the State Great Khural.
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Decisions Made at The Cabinet Session www.montsame.mn

During its regular session on June 14, 2023, the Cabinet made the following decisions:
Draft Law on Amending the Law on Immunization to be Submitted to the State Great Khural
During the Session, the Cabinet discussed a draft law on Amending the Law on Immunization and agreed to submit it to the State Great Khural.
The draft law has been developed to add vaccines against hepatitis A, pneumococcal, and human papillomavirus infections to the list of mandatory vaccinations.
Under the “Wasp” Operation, operational investigative activity is to be intensified
One of the operations of the “Five W” anti-corruption campaign is the “Wasp” operation, which aims to bring overseas escapers back to court and hold them accountable. At the Cabinet session, Minister of Justice and Home Affairs Kh. Nyambaatar presented some measures that have been taken under this operation.
In this regard, the Prime Minister tasked the line ministry to intensify the operational investigative activities.
Inflation Rate and Measures to Control Price Rise Presented
During the session, another presentation was delivered by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Development Ch. Khurelbaatar on the inflation rate and measures taken to control price rises. According to the National Statistics Office data, the inflation rate is 11.3 percent as of May 2023. However, it has been on a downward trend since its peak at 16.1 percent in June 2022. It is mainly due to the factors, such as the increased foreign exchange reserves, and stabilization of the foreign exchange market that leads to the lightened pressure of MNT depreciation and the reduced price of imported goods.
Even though the inflation rate has been falling, it is still higher than the target level proposed by the Bank of Mongolia. Price rises in wheat flour, meat, and milk have stimulated the stubborn inflation rate. As these three staple food products constitute 40 percent of the inflation.
The Government proposed amendments to the 2023 State Budget to secure the income of children, the elderly, disabled citizens, and public servants, improve the living environment of citizens and reduce urban congestion. As a result of that, there is an expected risk of a surge in the inflation rate.
Therefore, within the scope of controlling inflation and increasing economic production, the Minister proposed necessary measures, including preparing the monthly budget balance without deficit, trading meat and other agricultural products through the agricultural exchange, improving the efficiency of the animal husbandry sector, and introducing a digital system for special licenses.
In connection with the presentation, the Prime Minister was mandated to formulate a draft resolution of the Government on “Measures to ensure the stability of macroeconomics” and get it ready to be discussed at next week’s session.
Brief News:
Minister of Justice and Home Affairs Kh. Nyambaatar was tasked with formulating a draft resolution on “Measures to Take Within the Framework of the General Agreement on Cooperation Between Mongolia and China on Gashuunsukhait-Gantsmod Cross-Border Railway and Coal Purchase” and getting it discussed at the Cabinet session.
Minister of Economy and Development Ch. Khurelbaatar was tasked with developing an Action Plan for organizing the “Mongolian Economic Forum-2023” and ensuring its smooth implementation.
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Chinese soldiers to join multinational peacekeeping exercise in Mongolia www.xinhuanet.com

At the invitation of the Mongolian defense ministry, the Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army will send troops to Mongolia in mid-June to join the Khaan Quest 2023 multinational peacekeeping exercise, a Chinese defense spokesperson said Friday.
Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson with the Ministry of National Defense, made the remarks during a regular press conference.
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Bus carrying foreign tourists crashes in Mongolia www.xinhuanet.com

A tour bus carrying about 30 foreign tourists crashed on Friday afternoon in the northern outskirts of Ulan Bator, the Mongolian capital, authorities said.
Twenty-six Nepali tourists were sent to hospital for treatment after the accident, which occurred in the Songinokhairkhan District of Ulan Bator, local media reported.
Among the Nepali tourists, four suffered severe injuries and two were in serious conditions, the National Traumatology and Orthopedics Research Center said in a statement.
The cause of the accident is under investigation, the National Police Department said, urging drivers to comply with traffic rules to avoid accidents as the peak season of summer tourism is coming.
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42,000-year-old Mongolian pendant may be earliest known phallic art www.science.org

The human predilection for phallic imagery is well documented—just look at the scrawling in any high school locker room. A pendant recently found in northern Mongolia suggests our species has been artistically recreating the penis for at least 42,000 years. According to researchers behind a study of the pendant, published this week in Nature Scientific Reports, the 4.3-centimeter piece of carved graphite is the “earliest-known sexed anthropomorphic representation.”
If so, the pendant would predate cave art at Grotte Chauvet in France that depicts vulvas and dates back 32,000 years. It would even edge out the Venus of Hohle Fels statue found in southwestern Germany that may be as old as 40,000 years. But not everyone is convinced that the Mongolian pendant represents a phallus.
The pendant was unearthed in 2016 at site called Tolbor in Mongolia’s northern Khangai Mountains. Radiocarbon dating of organic material found near it puts the artifact at between 42,400 and 41,900 years old. A fragment of an ostrich eggshell pendant, ostrich eggshell beads, other stone pendants, and animal bone pieces were also found in the same sedimentary layer.
Solange Rigaud, an archaeologist at the University of Bordeaux and the study’s lead author, thinks the strongest argument for the pendant as a phallic representation comes from the features its maker focused on. “Our argument is that when you want to represent something abstractly, you will choose very specific features that really characterize what you want to represent,” she says. For example, the carver appears to have taken care to define the urethral opening, she notes, and to distinguish the glans from the shaft.
A combination of microscopy and other surface analyses show that stone tools were likely used to carve out the grooves for both the urethra and the glans. The pendant was also discovered to be smoother on the back than the front; a string was likely fastened around the glans, suggesting the ornament may have been worn around the neck. The amount of wear on the surface suggests it was likely handed down across multiple generations. Graphite wasn’t widely available near Tolbor, suggesting the pendant may have come from elsewhere, perhaps through trade.
But phallic imagery is often in the eye of the beholder, “like a face in a cloud,” says Curtis Runnels, an archaeologist at Boston University who was not involved in the study. He called the pendant a “small and rather shapeless object” and said he “would need to be convinced” that it was intended to represent a penis.
Rigaud concedes it’s ”very tricky to say” what the object was meant to symbolize. Its small size would have made it difficult for anyone other than the wearer to identify at a distance, so it may have held some personal meaning to its maker or wearer, she says.
Francesco D’Errico, an archaeologist at Bordeaux who was not involved in the research but shares a lab with several of the authors, concedes that the likeness is a matter of interpretation, but thinks Rigaud and her team are on the right track. “The small size of the object, the exotic provenance of the raw material, and the … modifications are quite telling,” he says. “I think the interpretation holds.”
If the pendant does reflect a phallus, it reinforces the notion that some of the earliest forms of symbolic thinking are found on personal ornaments, the authors say. The oldest jewelry includes shell beads found in Africa, dating back at least 60,000 years and perhaps up to 142,000 years. The pendant is “important because it highlights very specific cognitive capacities in our lineage”—that is, the ability to attach meaning to symbolic representations—which is one of the hallmarks of being human, Rigaud says.
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China, Mongolia to fight sandstorms amid calls to curb economic and ecological harm www.scmp.com

Beijing and Ulaanbaatar have stepped up joint efforts to prevent sandstorms that swept across northern China earlier this year, with a Chinese delegation set to visit Mongolia from later this month to jointly work on solutions, according to information obtained by the Post.
A delegation led by Nyamosor Batkhuu, an environment and green development policy adviser to Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, and forestry department head Byambasuren Oyunsanaa visited China for six days in early May following an invitation from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.
During the trip, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding after discussions that took place in China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
A Chinese research team has now been invited to visit Mongolia between June 25 and July 10 to assess desertification issues in Mongolia.
A joint working group will then be formed to facilitate the establishment of the China-Mongolia Cooperation Centre for Combating Desertification in Mongolia, the Post has learned.
China’s forestry authority will also arrange for Chinese experts to work in the centre, which will be jointly run by the two countries.
And the China International Development Cooperation Agency will support a donation programme, demonstration centres, desertification monitoring stations, joint research and capacity building training for the centre.
China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration did not respond to request for comment.
China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment previously attributed the severe sandstorms – which typically hit the capital city and surrounding areas in the spring – to Mongolia.
Last week, during a visit to Inner Mongolia, President Xi Jinping demanded urgent action and for China to “stay ahead of the curve” after some severe spring sandstorms cloaked Beijing and China’s northern regions in March and April, with some even affecting the eastern areas including Shanghai.
“Desertification, sand and dust storms, as well as soil erosion, cause ecological damage and restrict the economic development of the northern part [of China],” Xi said.
“In the past two years, China’s northern part has experienced more sandstorms due to the impact of climate change. The long-term, difficult and uncertain prevention work is urgent and we need to stay ahead of the curve.”
Sumiya Chuluunbaatar, a non-resident fellow at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of International Studies, said China has been combating desertification and sandstorms in its autonomous regions of Inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Xinjiang, as well as Gansu province, and that there is a need to strengthen cooperation between Beijing and Ulaanbaatar.
“The shortage of water resources restricts the development of Mongolia, especially in the southern Gobi region where mining is developed, which requires water resources,” he said.
China’s decades-long experience of its south-to-north water diversion project – that involves drawing water from southern rivers and supplying it to the dry north – will also be relevant to Mongolia, Chuluunbaatar added.
Chuluunbaatar also said a carbon emissions trading system is another potential field for collaboration, as it is an area that has yet to be developed in Mongolia.
Poor vegetation growth in the Gobi Desert region of Mongolia causes the sandstorms, which could lead to a loss of 0.27 per cent from Mongolia’s national gross domestic product due to a decline in crop revenues, according to an academic paper by visiting research fellow Hayatullah Ahmadzai at the University of Nottingham.
“Increases in the frequency of sand and dust storms could reduce agricultural productivity by between 1.5 per cent to 24 per cent, depending on the crop,” he said in the paper that was released in February.
In addition to the joint effort with China, the Mongolian government is also cooperating with mining giant Rio Tinto – the largest foreign investor in the country – to save 1.1 billion trees by 2024 as the country is fighting against climate change and desertification.
The three-year, US$2.3 million Healthy Forest Project, which was launched in 2022, is set to create “resilient forests” that can withstand defoliation and improve their adaptation to pests that can “foster sustainable economic development by providing long-term and healthy forest resources”.
In April, the sandstorms in northern China also shrouded skies from South Korea to Japan, bringing the first yellow dust to Tokyo since 2021.
Xinjiletu Yang, a professor in economics and management at the Inner Mongolia University of Technology, said in a research paper released in July that sand and dust storms will decrease visibility on roads, leading to traffic accidents, while they will also spread harmful substances carried in dust and pollen that induces health issues, in addition to reductions in crop yields.
BY:
Kandy Wong returned to the Post in 2022 as a correspondent for the Political Economy desk, having earlier worked as a reporter on the Business desk. She focuses on China's trade relationships with the United States, the European Union and Australia, as well as the Belt & Road Initiative and currency issues. She graduated from New York University with a master's degree in journalism in 2013. An award-winning journalist, she has worked in Hong Kong, China and New York for the Hong Kong Economic Journal and the Financial Times, E&E News, Forbes, The Economist Intelligence Unit, Nikkei Asia and Coconuts Media.
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