Prime Minister of Mongolia, L.Oyun-Erdene will pay an official visit to the Republic of Korea from 13-17 February.

The sides will discuss expanding cooperation between the two countries and the issue of visa benefits.

L.Oyun-Erdene received Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Mongolia Kim Jong-gu on 31 January. They exchanged views on bilateral relations and cooperation.

The Prime Minister expressed interest in introducing advanced technologies and attracting investments in environment, health and infrastructure in connection with the creation of a new city as part of the long-term development of “Vision 2050” policy and the “Revival Policy” carried out by the government.

According to data released by South Korea’s foreign ministry, 39,746 Mongolians were living in South Korea as of June 2022.

Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) is in talks with potential partners to develop copper assets in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as the world faces a global copper shortage, fuelled by fresh challenges to supply streams and higher demand.

“We’re in all kinds of strategic discussions and you know, most of the most interesting investors tend to be sovereign investors,” Ivanhoe Mines founder Robert Friedland told Bloomberg TV. “We only want to do things that help it to grow.”

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The shift toward decarbonization will require vast amounts of copper to produce electric vehicles (EVs), extend transmission lines and install new wires in renewable power sources.

Very few major copper mines have started operations in recents years, with only two opened between 2017 and 2021, according to the International Copper Study Group (ICSG).

While there are now four mines coming on stream or ramping up almost simultaneously — Kamoa-Kakula in Congo, Quellaveco in Peru and Quebrada Blanca II and Spence-SGO in Chile — main market players are still predicting a massive supply shortfall by 2030.

Speaking this week in South Africa at the Indaba conference, Friedland said 700 million tonnes of copper had been mined in human history and a further 700 million tonnes would be needed in the next 22 years just to keep annual global growth rates of 3%.

The mining veteran made his fortune from the Voisey’s Bay nickel project in Canada in the 1990s. Since then, he has been involved in some of the biggest mineral discoveries in the world, including the giant Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia and the Kamoa-Kakula project in the DRC.

The Congolese copper mine produced 333,500 tonnes of the metal in 2022, more than double its output a year earlier. It’s currently undergoing an expansion (Phase 3), which will push production numbers up to 620,000 tonnes a year by 2024, when completed.

Growing interest

Friedland is not alone in touting Africa as a copper haven. Eurasian Resources Group’s chief executive officer, Benedikt Sobotka, said earlier this week that the company would spend $1.8 billion to double its copper and cobalt output in the continent.

ERG produces 200,000 tonnes of copper and 25,000 tonnes of cobalt a year from its mines across the central African copperbelt.

The US government inked in January a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop a supply chain for EV batteries.

“It should have happened 30 years ago,” Friedland said. “Five American administrations slept walked through this requirement, and the Americans are remembering how critically important Africa is.”

Yet, the US government hasn’t added copper to its list of critical metals, he noted.

Chile is the world’s largest copper producer and accounted for 27% of global supply in 2021, according to the World Economic Forum. The country, however, is facing declining ore grades and climbing costs, recording a 7% year-on-year production decline in November.

“Chile cannot grow their production for the new economy, they just can’t,” Friedland said. “Unless this is completely reinvented, there is no hope for an energy transition.”

~ With files from Bloomberg

Dayton Mayor Jeffrey J. Mims will honor Dayton Flyers freshman guard Mike Sharavjamts by declaring Friday as Mongolian Day in the city.

Sharavjamts, the first Mongolian citizen to play Division I men’s college basketball, has started 20 games this season and appeared in all 25 games. He averages 5.9 points and leads the team with 79 assists.

“He’s been an ambassador for Mongolia in Ohio and even in America,” said Bayarmagnai Baika Puntsag, a consul at the Consulate General of Mongolia in San Francisco. “He’s been very successful. A lot of young people look up to him. It’s been a great journey. We are all cheering for him.”

As part of Mongolian Day, there will be an event, sponsored by CareSource, for invited guests from 2-4 p.m. Friday at the Pamela Morris Center in Downtown Dayton. Programming will highlight Mongolian culture.

Erhardt Preitauer, President and CEO of CareSource, will provide welcoming remarks. H.E. Batbayar Ulziidelger, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia, will follow with the keynote address.

Representatives from U.S. Rep. Mike Turner’s office and from Ohio Lt. Governor Jon A. Husted’s office will attend the event.

» ARCHDEACON: ‘Mongolian Mike’ hopes to make splash with UD

Later on Friday, Dayton plays Saint Louis at 8 p.m. at UD Arena. Mongolian contortionists will perform at halftime.

Puntsag became a Dayton fan when Sharavjamts signed with the program and hasn’t missed a game this season on TV. He even watched the Flyers when he traveled home to Mongolia. He will attend the event and see Sharavjamts play in person for the first time Friday night. He sees the whole day as a way to promote his country. He urged people to consider visiting, saying it takes about 15 hours of flights to reach the country from the United States.

“Mongolia has been a hidden jewel, a hidden pearl,” he said. “I’ve met with a lot of Americans who dream of coming to Mongolia. It’s wide open to tourists. It’s not in outer space.”

By: David Jablonski covers the Dayton Flyers and other sports for the Dayton Daily News, Springfield News-Sun and Journal News.

Mongolian search and rescue team headed by the Deputy Chief of National Emergency Management Agency, Brigadier-General B. Uuganbayar landed in Hatay, Turkey on February 9, at 17 pm (Ankara time).

According to the National Emergency Management Agency of Mongolia, since their landing, the team has rescued three people, including 2-year old child at 08:10 pm, a woman at 09:20 pm and then another 15-year old boy who were all trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building.

Mongolia has rolled the dice before on establishing casinos but without much luck. A renewed attempt to open the country’s first casino in more than two decades is now underway as Mongolia looks for new avenues of economic growth.

A bill to legalise casinos, betting, lotteries and horse racing was submitted to Parliament in December and is making its way through various Parliamentary committees, according to the State Great Khural website.

The hope is that foreign visitors can be encouraged to make bets on slot machines and at poker tables after visits to the open steppes of the Mongolian countryside. Largely dependent on mining, Mongolia is looking for ways to diversify its economy and boost growth as it faces headwinds. Its currency has lost 22% of its value over the past 12 months and GDP has fallen to 2.5% after being in double digits a decade ago.

The casino concept is being pushed by the government after it declared the years 2023-2025 as the “years to visit” Mongolia. The bill in Parliament also provisions building horse racetracks and legalising lotteries.

Casinos have been opening across Asia over the past two decades, mainly catering to Chinese holidaymakers. The Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia and Malaysia are a few of the countries that have made a bet on casinos to boost revenue.

But as Mongolia heads down the path of casinos, some remain wary of gambling. In 2019 authorities banned civil servants from gambling in casinos in other countries amid reports that officials were spending an inordinate amount of time in casinos whilst on official trips abroad.

One quirk in the bill submitted to the Great Khural states that Mongolian citizens won’t actually be allowed to gamble in the casinos on their own soil.

While banning citizens from entering casinos in their own country is unusual, Mongolia would not be the first to enforce such a law. A similar restriction also exists in Monaco. South Korea also bans its citizens from all but one of its 23 casinos. This provision could prove controversial if lawmakers consider it not to be in line with the country’s democratic values, said Bolortuya Ulziibat, managing partner at Ulaanbaatar-based Tsogt & Nandin law firm.

“The government asserts that such a restriction does not violate human rights and only aims to prevent negative impacts on locals, such as gambling addiction,” said Bolortuya. “I personally can’t agree, because there may be some legal issues such as a conflict with the constitution and discrimination.” But such a provision may not be too controversial among Mongolians, said Bolortuya.

“Casinos are still a very sensitive and negative subject in Mongolia, almost like guns or drugs,” she said. “So if the government makes casinos open to Mongolians then people might protest against such a draft law. Personally, I think most Mongolians may like such a legal restriction.” Casinos have had a poor reputation in Mongolia since the late 1990s, when a casino located in the basement of the Chinggis Khaan Hotel was shut down after two years in business amid allegations of corruption and money laundering.

Some speculated that the casino was connected to the murder of prominent politician Zorig Sanjaasuren, who was assassinated in October 1998. Zorig, infrastructure minister at the time of his death and in line to succeed an outgoing prime minister, was reportedly against the business.

Later administrations attempted several times without success to re-establish a casino business, all of them withering in the face of public scepticism over legalised gambling.

If passed, the new law would permit authorities to issue casino operating licences valid for 30 years. Upon expiry of the licence, half the casino shares must be transferred to the government. The operator’s licence can then be extended an additional 10 years. Another provision would prohibit the transfer of a casino licence to another company after it has been issued.

The minimum investment required by the government is $300mn. The last time Mongolia saw an investment in tourism on that scale occurred in 2015, when Shangri-La opened up a $500mn hotel, office and shopping complex in Ulaanbaatar.

As for Mongolia’s take, a tax rate of 40% on profits would apply, equal to what is currently required of casinos in Macau. A portion of the revenues would go back into tourism development. The legislation would also require the operator to make all transactions through local banks.

"The aim was to create a real investment that would be adapted to the specifics of our country,” Nyambaatar Khishgee, Mongolia’s Minister for Justice, said during a briefing to Parliament members last month. “Three hundred million is the threshold needed to make a real investment from scratch, not just to rent a ready-made building and start operations.” Casinos would be permitted within a 1,000-hectare free trade zone in Khushigt Valley, near the New Ulaanbaatar International Airport. The zone, set up last year and approved by Parliament, is located 50 km south of the capital. The law protects whoever jumps in first, allowing that operator a five-year monopoly before licences would be made available to companies.

A majority of members in the Standing Committee that heard the first reading supported the motion to continue discussions of the law in Parliament.

Zolbayar Enkhbaatar, editor-in-chief of the financial newsletter Inside Mongolia, says casinos could help boost the economy and previous failures to pass a casino law shouldn’t deter legislators.

“It's a good step that we're even discussing this topic, because casinos used to be kind of a banned topic in Mongolia,” said Zolbayar.

But Zolbayar sees the rule that bans Mongolian citizens, along with the high entry cost for investors, as major impediments to development. “Because of those reasons, very few investors might be interested, if any,” he said.

While there are no currently no physical casinos in Mongolia, a number of online gaming platforms have emerged, although most of them are unauthorised. Several have been blocked in recent weeks by the Communications Regulatory Commission of Mongolia, according to News.mn, a local news portal.

While gambling in casinos would be outlawed under the law under review, the law would not ban gambling at short-track horse-racing events. Mongolia already has a culture of horse racing but those events are long-distance riding, and until now betting has been informal and usually between friends.

“The adoption of these laws has the potential to open space for new kinds of businesses, including horse stable facilities, betting software and rider training,” said Zolbayar.

One change from the norm is that the new law would require that jockeys are certified professional riders. This rule would prevent children – who serve as jockeys during summer festival races – from entering professional races.

BY: Michael Kohn

Michael Kohn has covered Mongolia since 1998, reporting on social, political and economic changes in the country during its transition and growth. He has written travel guidebooks on Mongolia and two books: Dateline Mongolia and Lama of the Gobi.

LONDON -- Resource-rich Mongolia is positioning itself as an alternative to China in supplying minerals used in the renewable energy sector but needs help from foreign investors to develop the necessary mining infrastructure, its deputy prime minster says.

"We will be one of the main players [in critical minerals], I'm sure, but it will take time," Amarsaikhan Sainbuyan told Nikkei Asia while in London to celebrate 60 years of U.K.-Mongolian diplomatic relations. "The Mongolian government is open for all kinds of investments and partnerships."

Minerals such as copper, nickel, lithium and cobalt are crucial for manufacturing battery-powered electric vehicles, as are rare-earth metals that largely come from China.

The National Geological Office of Mongolia had registered reserves of 61.4 million tons of copper and 3.1 million tons of rare-earth minerals as of July 2022. Last year, Southern Mongolia's Oyu Tolgoi mine -- one of the world's largest known copper reserves -- received approval to begin underground operations.

Sainbuyan said unlocking Mongolia's "huge potential" to supply minerals crucial for the green transition would require help from foreign investors in developing environmentally friendly and energy-efficient mining technology.

"A country like Germany, or European or Western producers, they are interested in securing the raw materials, especially in critical mineral and rare-elements metals," as they seek to reduce their dependence on China, he said. "We have to capitalize" on this interest.

Several high-level German visits have been planned to discuss cooperation on such matters, he said. Germany, a leading vehicle maker, has been eyeing Mongolia's potential for over a decade, co-founding the German-Mongolian Institute for Resources and Technology.

When German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai to Berlin last October, he said Mongolia would be "an important partner" for "many raw materials" in Germany's diversification strategy but emphasized that concrete projects need to be identified.

Mining accounted for roughly a quarter of Mongolian GDP in 2021 and 29.6% of budget revenues, according to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. The pandemic slowed activity, but now is the time to "pick up," Sainbuyan said.

Corruption allegations over coal exports to China by a state-owned enterprise led to demonstrations in December. Investigations are ongoing and several people have been arrested.

Sainbuyan said the government is committed to fighting corruption. "This is the main concern of the government, to reduce poverty and stop corruption," he said.

Wedged between Russia to the north and China to the south, landlocked Mongolia faces limitations on export routes for coal -- a factor that could also affect its ability to ship strategic minerals. Despite strong interest for coking coal from the likes of India, South Korea, Japan and Europe, China will remain its main coal market because of "limited access," Sainbuyan said.

The government has been building and upgrading infrastructure to better connect the country, mainly through industrial railway links to China and Russia.

"Unfortunately, because of the geographical location, we have limited access and exit -- either we have to go to Russia or to China and export," Sainbuyan said.

BY: Rhyannon Bartlett-Imadegawa

The Mongolian government on Wednesday announced that the year 2023 is the "Year of Fighting against Corruption."

Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene ordered all relevant officials to ensure the implementation of anti-corruption measures and provide all-round support in the fight against corruption.

The move aims to shine a light on the shadow economy in order to expand the country's gross domestic product (GDP), Khishgee Nyambaatar, minister of justice and internal affairs of Mongolia, briefed media after a regular government meeting.

Within the framework of the anti-corruption year, the country is expected to take various measures, including passing a law to protect whistle-blowers.

In addition, under the framework of relevant international agreements and Mongolian laws, the country will repatriate corrupt fugitives and punish them, and uncover and return illegal funds hidden in offshore areas and foreign countries.

It is estimated that if these anti-corruption measures succeed, the country's GDP per capita could exceed 5,000 U.S. dollars for the first time.

On 27 January 2023, Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa vetoed a social media bill that legislators adopted earlier in the month, only 48 hours after it was disclosed to the public, which made it the fastest decision ever taken by Mongolia’s parliament and did not allow any public debate on the matter. The Parliament can still override the veto providing it collects the two-thirds of the votes in a coming extraordinary session planned for this month.

The social media bill, that notably includes dispositions against hate speech, children abuse, drug trafficking and online fraud, also allows the government to request Internet Service Providers to “suspend or delete accounts” and “reduce the distribution of information” of contents deemed harmful to “national unity” and disclosing “state and official secrets”. This Bill, by giving the government body – and not a judicial or independent authority – such a power, would give political authorities the ability to make arbitrary and politically motivated decisions, giving the authorities to censor any online content they dislike.

Although Mongolia broadly respects the principles of press freedom and media pluralism, its media environment is plagued by conflicts of interest that hinder editorial independence. In 2017, a few weeks before the presidential election, Mongolian television stations replaced their normal programming with blank screens in protest against plans to increase the penalties for defamation, which they feared would force journalists into self-censorship.

In 2021, Mongolia was officially invited to join the 50 countries that already endorsed the International Partnership for Information and Democracy, a process originally initiated by RSF, which aims at implementing democratic safeguards in the information and communication space.

Mongolia ranked 90th out of 180 in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index