UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will start his Asia trip that will bring him to Japan, Mongolia and South Korea, his spokesman has said.

The secretary-general will leave for Japan on Thursday. In Japan, he will take part in the Peace Memorial Ceremony in Hiroshima, which is held on August 6 every year, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

During his stay in Japan, Guterres will meet with several Japanese senior officials, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. He will also meet a group of surviving victims of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, known as the hibakusha, and will participate in a dialogue with young activists who are leading initiatives on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and other global issues, said Dujarric.

The secretary-general will then go to Mongolia, which has shown a commitment to non-proliferation and disarmament by declaring itself a nuclear-weapons-free zone. Guterres will take part in a tree planting ceremony in the capital city of Ulan Bator to recognize Mongolia’s One Billion Trees initiative, which aims to plant 1 billion trees by 2030 as part of Mongolia’s efforts to reduce the impact of climate change and fight desertification. In addition, he will visit a nomadic family and learn about their way of life, said the spokesman.

Following his visit to Mongolia, the secretary-general will travel to South Korea on August 11. The details of his visit to South Korea are still being worked out, said the spokesman.

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

I have a full trip announcement to share with you. As I mentioned yesterday, the Secretary-General will be heading to Japan on Thursday, leaving here, New York, on Thursday. In Japan, he will take part in the Peace Memorial Ceremony in Hiroshima, which, as you know, is held on 6 August every year. The ceremony aims to console the souls of those lost to the atomic bombing, as well as to pray for the realization of lasting world peace. The Secretary-General will honour the victims of the bombings, commemorate all victims of the Second World War, and reiterate his call to world leaders to urgently eliminate stockpiles of nuclear weapons. During his visit, he will meet with several Japanese senior officials, including Prime Minister [Fumio] Kishida. He will also meet a group of surviving victims of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, known as the hibakusha; and he will participate in a dialogue with young activists who are leading initiatives on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and other global issues.

The Secretary-General will then go to Mongolia, at the invitation of President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa. Mongolia is a country that has also shown a commitment to non-proliferation and disarmament by declaring itself a nuclear-weapon-free zone. During his visit to the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, the Secretary-General will also take part in a tree planting ceremony to recognize Mongolia’s One Billion Trees initiative, which was launched in October and aims to plant, as its name implies, 1 billion trees by 2030, as part of the Mongolia’s efforts to reduce the impact of climate change and fight the increasing desertification which is impacting Mongolia. In addition, he will visit a nomadic family and learn about their way of life. Following his visit to Mongolia, the Secretary-General will travel to the Republic of Korea from 11 to 12 August. The details of his visit to Seoul are still being discussed with the Government.

Airbnb said travel demand remains strong, despite concerns about economic slowdown and rising prices hitting households.

Nearly 104 million nights and experiences were booked on the platform in the April through June period, a record high for the lodging website.

Long-term stays continued to be the fastest growing type of travel, a shift driven by the rise of remote work.

But international and city travel, which had lagged, have also recovered.

The company said it was now in the middle of its strongest peak summer travel season yet, and it assured investors that it was well poised for whatever may hit the economy.

In fact, a slowdown may actually help the company, executives said.

"Airbnb was founded during the recession," chief executive Brian Chesky said in a conference call with analysts to discuss the company's results.

In the event of another slowdown, he said, "we think a lot of people may turn to hosting once again, so this is a big opportunity for us".

Overall, bookings in the April-June period rose 25% from last year to 103.7 million and up 24% from 2019.

Higher prices helped lift the company's revenue, which surged 58% from last year to $2.1bn.

Nearly half of the company's reservations are for a week or longer, the company said.

Travel demand remains strongest in North America, where bookings are up 37% compared to 2019.

Growth in Europe - while travel has recovered from the pandemic - is lagging that recovery, hurt by factors such as the weaker pound.

The company, which announced in May that it was pulling out of China, said demand remained below pre-pandemic levels in the Asia Pacific region, as Covid restrictions keep Chinese tourists at home.

Despite the removal of China listings in July, Airbnb still has more than 6 million active listings on the platform.

Mr Chesky said the company had now achieved "growth and profitability at scale" and said the firm would both continue to invest in the business, and spend $2bn on buying its own shares, which have fallen this year.

Executives said the buyback programme was a sign of their confidence in the company's future.

The company reported a profit of $379m, compared to a loss of $68m last year.

Australia, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of liquified natural gas (LNG), said on Monday it may curb exports to avoid a domestic shortage.

The announcement comes after the nation’s competition watchdog warned of a shortfall and soaring prices next year, and urged the government to make gas that hasn’t been sold under long-term contracts available domestically before it is exported.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said LNG exporters are likely to withdraw more gas from the domestic market than they plan to supply. A shortage equivalent to around 10% of demand is expected, according to Reuters.

Madeleine King, Australia’s Minister for Resources, said she would consult with LNG exporters and the country’s trading partners before making a decision in October.

Australia, along with the US and Qatar, is one of the largest LNG exporters in the world. The main buyers of Australian LNG are China, South Korea, and Japan.

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A global gas supply crunch has worsened in recent months due to international sanctions against major supplier Russia. LNG is widely seen as a replacement for Russian pipeline gas, with buyers in Europe and Asia competing for shipments. This has sent LNG prices up, and spurred Australia's producers to export more than was contracted.

Australia has suffered an energy crisis in recent months due to outages at its coal-fired power plants and a cold snap during the current winter season in the southern hemisphere. The country managed to avoid blackouts in June after the energy market operator capped wholesale electricity prices and temporarily suspended the electricity spot market. Households in the country's most populous state, New South Wales, were urged to save power.

French container carrier CMA CGM has announced that the rail service between China and Mongolia is back active in its Intermodal and Transport Solutions portfolio.

The rail service China - Mongolia was closed due to severe congestion and long delays at the gateway port for the cargo bound to Ulaan Bator in Mongolia, but CMA CGM said it is advised by the rail service operator that "the situation has considerably improved".

Therefore, the Marseille-headquartered company confirmed that it now accepts bookings for the product rail Tianjin (China) > Ulaan Bator (Mongolia).

ABU DHABI, 2nd August, 2022 (WAM) -- Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy, has held a meeting with Odonbaatar Shijeekhuu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to the UAE, to explore opportunities to strengthen trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.

During the meeting, which took place at the Ministry's headquarters in Dubai, Al Marri emphasised the UAE's commitment to solidifying its economic and trade partnership with Mongolia in fields of shared interest to support both countries' developmental agendas as well as their sustainable economic growth.

Bin Touq said, "Mongolia is a promising market with which we aspire to increase trade and investment exchanges, especially in sectors such as tourism, aviation, logistics, agriculture and animal food trade, food security, apart from other strategic areas of shared interest. The partnership further aims to boost private sector cooperation between the two sides by highlighting the available opportunities in our markets, exploring new collaboration mechanisms and facilitating the exchange of expertise."

He also reviewed the UAE's ambitious strategy to attract talent and competencies from all vital sectors, in addition to its advanced infrastructure, attractive business environment, the recently issued flexible legislations, and the incentives offered to companies to encourage FDI in the country's promising market.

The discussions also shed light on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPA) model pursued by the UAE, through which the country has signed three agreements so far with India, Indonesia, and Israel. Through these agreements, the UAE aims to expand its partnerships to reach strategic global markets, in line with the Principles of the 50 and the UAE Centennial 2071 goals to build a highly competitive national economy based on knowledge and innovation.

The UAE is Mongolia's number one Arab and GCC trade partner as of 2021. The non-oil trade between the two countries witnessed a 119 percent growth in Q1 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. During this period, the UAE's non-oil exports to Mongolia saw an 81 percent growth, led by medical and pharmaceutical industry supplies, construction materials, food materials such as tea and petrol and mineral oil.

WAM/Esraa Ismail/Rola Alghoul

National Statistics Office of Mongolia made following information related to tourists in Mongolia. The largest number of tourists come from our neighboring countries, Russian Federation and People’s Republic of China. According to the statistics of the last 10 years, about 130,000 tourists of China and 80,000 tourists of Russia visited Mongolia every year before pandemic.

Tourists from South Korea, Japan, the United States, Kazakhstan, Germany, France, Australia, and the United Kingdom are next on the list. According to the study of the Bank of Mongolia, tourists who come to Mongolia spend an average of USD 1,463 in 9 days, depending on the country where they come from. 56% of tourists take service from tourist companies, and 44% organize their own trips.

As of the first half of 2022, 73.7 thousand tourists came to Mongolia. This is an increase of 6.4 times from the same period of the previous year and a decrease of 66.1 percent compared to the period before the pandemic.

China's Zhuengadabuqi border port, connecting Mongolia through Bichigt gateway, has resumed operation after it was shut down on September 15, 2021 due to COVID-19 outbursts, according to the Global Times.

The border crossing mainly imports coking coal, crude oil and iron ore, with the intakes of the three goods at 379,700 tonnes, 145,000 tonnes and 1,270 tonnes respectively in 2021, data showed.

Zhuengadabuqi port opened a green passage on July 25, allowing the mobility of cargoes and people, in a bid to accelerate the recovery of port capacity.

(Writing by Emma Yang Editing by Harry Huo)

For any questions, please contact us by inquiry@fwenergy.com or +86-351-7219322.

Xanadu Mines has competed metallurgical recoveries of up to 91 per cent gold and 46 per cent copper from preliminary glycine and cyanide leach testing at its Kharmagtai copper-gold project in Mongolia.

The tests were performed on partially oxidised material from surface to 30m depth and returned head grades between 0.52 and 2.25 grams per tonne gold and from 0.12 up to 0.67 per cent copper.

Xanadu says the results show a potential treatment path for about 90 million tonnes of oxidised material treated as waste in the company’s scoping study due to low flotation recovery.

The company added that if the material was processed as ore rather than pre-stripping, it could reduce waste rock production by around 10 per cent.

The base case assumed that all ore is processed through a standard sulphide circuit, which means that the partially oxidised material at the surface, which does not float, ends up being treated as zero value waste. If we can turn that material into cash generating ore by leaching with glycine and cyanide, it has potential to drive significant value uplift for the Kharmagtai project.

Xanadu Mines Executive Chairman and Managing Director, Colin Moorhead

Four composite samples — coarse rejects of mixed oxide and sulphide material from previously drilled diamond core holes — were collected from the company’s Stockwork Hill, White Hill and Golden Eagle deposits that were identified as representations of each of the zones.

The leach tests aimed to determine metallurgical recovery of gold and copper and gauge the potential of additional glycine to enhance recovery and reduce cyanide consumption.

Xanadu says the results are the first step in evaluating a material uplift opportunity identified in the scoping study, to generate additional cash flow by leaching partially oxidised, near-surface material.

The latest test results follow an independent assessment by equities firm MST Access — paid for by Xanadu — that valued the company at 0.08c per share based on factors including the life of the Kharmagtai asset, the size of the resource and the company’s long-term strategy.

Xanadu shares are currently trading at 0.026c on the ASX, up more than 8 per cent on intraday trading.

Xanadu’s Kharmagtai project has a mineral resource estimate identified at a massive 1.1b tonnes for three million tonnes of contained copper and eight million ounces of gold.

Based on the company’s scoping study predictions for the first five years of production, Kharmagtai shows a diminutive strip ratio of just 0.9, an averaged milled copper grade of 0.29 per cent and the company expects to produce an average of 37,000 tonnes of copper per year.

Xanadu has also attracted the interest of Chinese copper miner Zijin Mining Group with planned investment from the deal to be delivered across three phases.

The first phase has been completed, with Zijin investing $5.6m for a total of 139 million fully paid ordinary shares, giving it a 9.9 per cent minority stake in Xanadu.

At phase two, Zijin will invest another $5.7 million to increase its stake to 19.99 per cent.

Through the third phase, Zijin will create a 50-50 joint venture with Khuiten Metals, currently wholly owned by Xanadu.

Khuiten owns a 76.5 per cent stake in the Kharmagtai mine.

The investment includes US$20 million to fully fund a prefeasibility study and an additional US$15 million to fund continued exploration at Kharmagtai.

Xanadu also has a 100 per cent share in its Red Mountain project in southern Mongolia, where early exploration has defined broad zones of strong quartz stockwork veining and associated high-grade gold mineralisation of about 0.5 to more than 5 grams per tonne gold and 0.3 to 1.5 per cent copper.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au

New data from Industrial Info Resources show 4,790 metals and minerals capital projects (including mining, processing and refining) with a combined investment value of $443 billion are currently under construction around the world. A further 10,586 projects are under active planning and engineering – for a combined total of $1.11 trillion.

Joe Govreau, VP of Research at Industrial Info Resources, says that is an 8% increase from the preceding period as projects delayed by the pandemic are being restarted. Mining projects – from early exploration through to construction – make up half the global total.

The top seven miners have now upped capital outlays by more than 50% from the depths of the industry downturn in 2017. Govreau sees “no reason why expenditures won’t continue to be elevated for the next several years or more as companies look to increase production to meet expected demand growth from the energy transition.”

Red metal goes green

The decarbonisation revolution is not off to a great start though, not if you compare investments in the worst of the fossil fuels in terms of emissions – coal – with that of copper, without which there simply is no green energy transition.

Copper’s metal intensity – kilograms required per MW produced – of renewable energy sources like solar and wind is nowhere near that of coal or gas. To generate 1MW of offshore wind energy around 8.2 tonnes of copper have to be installed. The same figure for coal is 882kg.

According to one study, in order to reach net-zero by 2050, 19 million tonnes of additional copper need to be delivered. That implies a new La Escondida – the world’s largest copper operation by a wide margin – must be discovered and enter production every year for the next 20 years.

IIR tracks 708 active copper projects with construction kickoff in 2022/2023 around the globe. The combined value of these projects, which includes mining, processing and smelting, is $68.5 billion.

Globally more is being spent on coal than copper mining

Unsurprisingly, Chile, the world’s largest copper producer and reserves holder, leads the way with 123 projects worth $18.3 billion followed by China boasting 119 projects with a combined value of $13 billion and Russia which is spending $12.7 billion on 24 new copper projects.

In contrast, the US is spending $3.8 billion while Canadian spending on new copper ventures is a paltry $484 million, behind Iran and Vietnam. Govreau also points to Peru, the world’s number two producer, which is spending only $602 million after pandemic lockdowns and social unrest brought development to a standstill.

Back in black

In contrast to copper, coal has a pipeline of 1,863 projects around the globe with a value of $80.8 billion.

Govreau says coal consumption and production jumped over the past year on the back of increased demand for power generation and steelmaking. Consumption of metallurgical coal is expected to be strong again this year.

The Chinese ban on Australian coal is a boost for swing suppliers – US coal exports were up 26% last year, says Govreau. Asian nations are also upping investment in coal mining, and in contrast to Europe and the US, more coal-fired plants are being built than are being retired.

China derives 65% of its electricity from coal, has vast amounts of reserves and is heavily investing in consolidating and automating its coal mines to supply its massive power generation fleet. Coal mining is also attracting investment in the near term because soaring gas prices makes it a cheaper alternative for electricity generation.