Germany has taken a step closer to gas rationing after a drop in supplies from Russia.

The country has triggered the "alarm" stage of an emergency gas plan to deal with shortages, Germany's economy ministry said.

It is the latest part of a standoff between the European Union and Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

German economy minister Robert Habeck said Russia was using gas "as a weapon" in response to EU sanctions.

"We must not fool ourselves. The cut in gas supplies is an economic attack on us by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin," Mr Habeck said, adding Germans would have to reduce consumption.

"It is obviously Putin's strategy to create insecurity, drive up prices and divide us as a society," he added. "This is what we are fighting against."

Mr Habeck said there would "hopefully never" be a need to ration gas for German industry, but he added: "Of course, I can't rule it out."

Emergency plan

Germany has now moved to the second stage of its three-part emergency plan, which is triggered when there is disruption or very high demand for gas.

The German government will provide €15bn (£13bn) of loans in an attempt to fill gas storage facilities.

It will also start to auction gas to industry to encourage big businesses to use less.

Moving to stage two of the plan puts more pressure on suppliers and network operators to balance out disruption by taking measures such as finding alternative sources for gas.

However, the country stopped short of letting utilities pass on soaring costs to customers, although that is theoretically possible under stage two.

Gas firms already had to ensure supplies under the first stage of the emergency plan, while gas network operators were reporting to the Economy Ministry at least once a day, and electricity grid operators had to ensure grid stability.

State intervention would happen under the third stage when there is a significant disruption to supply which the market cannot cope with, meaning supplies are rationed.

In the third stage, supply to industry would be restricted first, while households and critical institutions such as hospitals would continue to get available gas.

Twelve European Union countries have now been affected by cuts to gas supply from Russia, EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans said on Thursday.

Russia cut flows through its Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 40% of capacity last week citing problems with equipment, affecting countries including Germany.

It had already cut gas supplies to Poland, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland over their refusal to comply with a new payment scheme.

Nathan Piper, head of oil and gas research at Investec, said the continuing restrictions to gas supplies from Russia to Europe was a "worrying development".

"Effectively, all bets are off on what could happen next," he said. "Any pretence that Russia is a reliable provider of gas supplies has gone."

During the summer months disrupted gas supplies are "less of a pressing concern", but he said the situation could become worse as winter approaches and people need more heating.

Whether Germany has to start rationing gas "remains to be seen", but if prices surge into the winter German industry is likely to start rationing by itself as the use of gas becomes uneconomical, he said.

UK impact

The Ukraine war has hit the UK economy in a number of ways, such as by pushing up energy bills.

Inflation - how quickly prices rise across the board - continued at its fastest rate for 40 years in the UK in May, with fuel and energy costs its biggest drivers.

While the UK gets less than 5% of its gas from Russia, UK gas prices are affected by fluctuations in the global markets.

"Higher prices in Europe will mean UK gas prices rise too as gas users compete for the same limited sources of alternative supply," Mr Piper said.

At the regular Cabinet meeting, it was decided to pilot automatic guided vehicles (AGV) at the Gashuunsukhait-Gantsmod border checkpoint.

The decision was aimed at facilitating workload and increasing coal exports by 10 million tons according to the estimations. Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene instructed the relevant officials to pilot launch the AGV by July 5.

It will also be introduced at Shiveekhuren-Sekhee and Khangi-Mandal ports in the near future. It is crucial for Mongolia to increase its exports during the time when the coal price is high in the international market, and the Government hopes that AGV will play an important role in this regard.

Mongolia reported 58 new coronavirus infections, the coronavirus statistics as of June 23 showed.

27 of them were revealed among persons who had contact with the infected in Ulaanbaatar, 31 other cases were detected in regions.

No new imported cases of COVID-19 were reported.

The death toll makes 2,118 as of June 23.

During its meeting on June 22, the Cabinet approved a resolution, titled ‘Some measures to be taken in the air transportation sector’.

MIAT Mongolian Airlines currently operates flights en route Frankfurt-Ulaanbaatar twice a week. In connection with the increase in the passenger flow due to the start of the tourist season, the frequency of the flight on this route is planned to be increased to five times a week between July and September. Therefore, the Cabinet has made a decision to provide financing of MNT 4.7 billion from the government’s reserve fund, according to Minister of Road and Transport L.Khaltar.

“MIAT Mongolian Airlines purchased Boeing-767 aircraft, paying USD 4.5 million to the Export-Import Bank of the United States, which could pose financial difficulties to the company. In this regard, the government resolved to provide financial support to the company”.

Although charter flights were conducted during the pandemic, the aviation companies are still in dire financial straits. During his meeting with representatives of tourism and airlines, Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene emphasized the possibility of providing loans. Therefore, as reflected in the resolution, it was also resolved to issue a loan of MNT 145 billion within the government’s MNT 10 trillion comprehensive plan for health protection and economic recovery.

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 22, 2022 / Silver Elephant Mining Corp. (“Silver Elephant” or the “Company”) (TSX:ELEF, OTCQX:SILEF, Frankfurt:1P2N) announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Mega Thermal Coal Corp. (“Mega Coal”), is preparing to commence Mongolia coal production at its Ulaan Ovoo project in Q4 2022.

Mega Coal is commissioning Ulaan Ovoo in collaboration with its Mongolian partner, who owns and operates a mining fleet at Ulaan Ovoo that is able to support 30,000 tonnes per month of coal production at a steady rate. The equipment mine site inventory currently includes: 6 excavators, 13 dump trucks, 4 loaders, 2 screeners, 1 crusher, 1 water truck and 1 fuel truck.

There were limited Ulaan Ovoo coal shipments to China via the Erenhot rail port due to low coal prices in 2021. As a result, the mine operation was curtailed in late 2021. Since then, coal prices have increased whereby NewCastle 5,500 GCV thermal coal quintupled to an all-time high of US$427 per tonne. Coal prices at Erenhot typically trade at a nominal discount from the Newcastle benchmark.

In addition, Mega Coal’s management team estimates that there are approximately 90,000 tonnes of coal stockpiled at the Ulaan Ovoo mine site and the nearby Sukhbaatar rail siding. While the rail congestion to China has caused the sale of coal to be postponed, the situation is expected to ease in Q4 2022.

Plans are underway for Silver Elephant to spin out Mega Coal in late 2022. Refer to the news release dated April 4, 2022.

John Lee, CEO of both Mega Coal and Silver Elephant, states “2022 could be a break-out year for Mega Coal as we are gearing up for Ulaan Ovoo production to take advantage of the unprecedented thermal coal price”.

Qualified Person

The technical contents of this news release have been prepared under the supervision of Danniel Oosterman, VP Exploration. Mr. Oosterman is not independent of the company in that he is employed by it. Mr. Oosterman is a qualified person as defined by the guidelines in NI 43-101.

About Mega Thermal Coal Corp.

Mega Thermal Coal Corp. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Silver Elephant which owns and operates the following Mongolia thermal coal projects:

Ulaan Ovoo, which contains a measured 174.5 million tonnes and indicated 34.3 million tonnes of thermal coal, with an average GCV of 5,040 kcal/kg (as cited in the technical report by Wardrop Engineering, December 13, 2010, available on SEDAR).

Chandgana Khavtgai, which contains a measured and indicated 1.05 billion tonnes of thermal coal, with an average GCV of 3,636 kcal/kg (as reported by Kravits Geological Services LLC, September 28, 2010, available on SEDAR).

Chandgana Tal, which contains a measured 124.4 million tonnes of thermal coal, with an average GCV of 3,306 kcal/kg (as reported by John T. Boyd Company, February 2014, available on SEDAR).

Further information on Mega Coal can be found at www.megacoal.ca.

About Silver Elephant Mining Corp.

Silver Elephant Mining Corp. is a premier silver mining and exploration company which also owns 100% of Mega Coal and 39% of Battery Metals Royalties Corp.

Mongolia’s economy shrunk by 3.8 percent in the first quarter of 2022 and this year's growth is expected to be just one percent. But international institutions anticipate the economy to speed up by at least six percent in 2023 from expanded commodity exports. The country grew 1.4 percent in 2021 following a 5 percent dip in the pandemic year of 2020.

In part, the slump is due to the COVID border restrictions by Beijing that are affecting coal and copper exports.

Due to this situation, Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene and his top cabinet ministers visited southern provinces to see the progress of upgrading and integrating border infrastructure with China, which is key expand commodity exports.

Oyun-Erdene expects additional 50 million tons of annual capacity for shipping coal and other mineral products to China following the opening of two rail links via Gashuunsukhait and Khangi ports.

For now, coal miners remain cautious about their sales this year.

The economic downturn also coincides with growing food shortages echoing the food crisis in many other countries. The government announced a tax exemption for imports of rice, sugar and vegetable oil until the end of this year.

Vietnam and China make the lion's share (~$20 million annually) of rice imports to the country while Malaysia and Indonesia are top suppliers of cooking oil to Mongolia, the demand of which usually spikes preceding Tsagaan Sar (Lunar New Year) celebrations.

To further prevent potential food shortages the president called to pass a five-year plan on sponsoring the agri-food sector with MNT 1.7 trillion ($570 million). The agriculture ministry estimates MNT 500 billion ($167 million) will be immediately needed to address the food production and supply disruptions urgently.

Mongolia is in shortage of grains and sugar as Russia temporarily banned its export.

Crop growers also are planning to increase their harvest this year by increasing their seeding by 24.7 percent. The agriculture ministry is working closely with farmers to provide necessary fertilizers.

As a result of the lifting of pandemic restrictions earlier this year, the hospitality and tourism sectors has seen a strong recovery despite the economic hardships.

Hotels recorded a 90 percent jump in their revenues from almost zero stays during the pandemic time.

The tour operators in Mongolia expect 245,000 tourists this summer from South Korea following visa-free travel.

Mongolia's central bank on Wednesday decided to raise its benchmark interest rate to 10 percent.

"We decided to raise the benchmark interest rate from 9 percent to 10 percent to stabilize the rate of inflation in the medium term, ensure the external and internal balances of the economy at a reasonable level and maintain the relative return of the Mongolian national currency Tugrik," Byadran Lkhagvasuren, governor of the Bank of Mongolia, told a press conference.

Some external factors prompted the bank to make the decision, Lkhagvasuren said. "Inflation expectations are rising, coal exports are declining and imports are increasing, and the balance of payment deficit is widening."

The annual inflation rate in Mongolia reached 15.1 percent in May, while in the capital Ulan Bator, home to over half of the country's population of 3.4 million, the figure reached 16.2 percent.

The World Organization for Animal Health has officially granted Mongolia a certification of being free of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), local media reported on Wednesday, citing the country's foreign affairs ministry.

Mongolia was declared free of CBPP in May, and the Embassy of Mongolia in France has recently received the certification, the ministry said in a statement.

The CBPP caused by the bacterium Mycoplasma mycoides is a highly contagious bacterial disease that afflicts the lungs of cattle, buffalo, zebu, and yaks. Symptoms include fever, lethargy, cough, extended necks, labored breathing and loss of appetite.

Mongolia is one of the last nomadic countries in the world. The country's livestock number totaled 67.3 million at the end of 2021, and 7.5 percent of them were cattle, according to the National Statistics Office.

Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Mongolia Gabit Koishibayev met with the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia Ankhbayar Nyamdorj, Kazinform cites the press service of the Kazakh MFA.

During the conversation, having made a brief overview of the current state and prospects of Mongolian-Kazakh cooperation in the political and economic spheres, State Secretary Ankhbayar emphasized the reliable and trusting nature of relations between Mongolia and Kazakhstan, which have been maintained for all three decades that have passed since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and also expressed the interest of the Mongolian side in further deepening collaboration on the entire spectrum of issues of bilateral cooperation.

Supporting and developing the idea of ​​the interlocutor, Ambassador Koishibayev, in turn, proposed to focus the efforts of the parties on specific areas of cooperation, in particular, to intensify joint coordinated steps to increase trade turnover between the two countries, deepen collaboration in transport and logistics, agrarian, production and investment spheres. In this regard, he noted that in order to achieve practical results in these areas, it is important to carry out thorough preparations for the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation between Kazakhstan and Mongolia, planned to hold this year in Ulaanbaatar. The establishment of direct business ties between business circles will also be facilitated by the holding of the Trade and Economic Mission of Kazakhstan in Mongolia this year.

The parties agreed on the need to coordinate efforts to develop mutually beneficial cooperation within the existing international logistics infrastructures, to actively use the transit potential of the two countries in order to increase the volume of transit and bilateral transportation of goods and passengers along international transport corridors.

During the meeting, issues of interaction between Kazakhstan and Mongolia in international affairs, including within the framework of multilateral structures, were also discussed. The importance of providing mutual support in promoting the initiatives of the two countries within the framework of the UN, CICA, SCO and other international organizations was emphasized.

In addition, the parties discussed some issues of working cooperation between the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, agreed to continue the regular exchange of information and maintain constant contacts on current issues of Kazakh-Mongolian cooperation.

What do you know about sumo? When future Brave Blossoms captain Michael Leitch first arrived in Japan as a 15-year-old, he thought he had a general idea. But then he started clocking who was winning top tournaments and the seedling of an idea lodged in his brain. Today, he is taking action.

He tells Rugby World: “When I first came over here, I realised that all the top sumo wrestlers in Japan were actually Mongolian. And I thought that was fascinating.

“They could all speak perfect Japanese. So I looked into the background story and a lot of them were scouted in childhood – like 15 or 16 – and were taken into what you’d call a sumo camp or stable. They just trained and trained and trained and became these top sumo wrestlers.

“And these guys are massive, you know. They’re huge guys. So I thought, if you could get one of these guys to play rugby, that’d be awesome. In the front row, like a tighthead. Because you don’t need to have the flair or anything like that, they just need to be big and strong.

“So going to Mongolia, I thought there should be a heap of Mongolian kids over there that have that potential to play in the front row.”

Yes, Leitch headed to Mongolia. And in 2019, a young man headed back the other way.

Thanks to a plan Leitch cooked up with Austin Gansukh of the Mongolian rugby union, they appealed for talent via social and traditional media campaigns, as well as courting the views of youth and school coaches, before running a process of scouting and screening sessions.

After whittling down the numbers they finally identified young Norovsambuu ‘Norvoo’ Davaajav as the right player to come over to Japan for placement in a school programme.

We’ll focus more on that scheme in a second but it’s first worth explaining whether Leitch’s initial observations are correct.

“Mongolians utterly dominated sumo between 2006 and 2016,” says John Gunning, a sumo writer and commentator based in Japan. “In that span there were 59 tournaments and 57 were won by Mongolians – plus one each by an Estonian and a Bulgarian.

“In the past six years there have been some Japanese winners but Mongolians have still held sway for the most part.

“And many of the guys that came over to sumo are physically imposing. In the attached photo I’m in the middle. I weighed 120kg in that photo and I look like a child.”

You begin to understand the appeal. Of course, just because you’re panning for gold, don’t throw away a diamond.

Young Davaajav is not a prop, but a lock. Leitch jokes that he tried to fatten the fella up, but he just doesn’t have the genes for it. But Norvoo is tough, don’t you doubt that. A lover of breakdown skirmishes and defensive collisions, he is raw and has a long way to go with his ball work, but the passion is infectious.

Leitch has also talked of diving deeper into Mongolia when his playing days are done. Asked if there is any other element to his drive here, he replies: “I want to replicate when I first came over here as a kid as well.

“Every opportunity was given to me in Japan, by the kindness of my head coach and everyone who supported me throughout my younger years. But not getting someone from, say, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji or New Zealand, but getting someone over who has no rugby experience. He has an opportunity to change his life and the course of his future.

“And keeping it in the region is massive. If you’re an Asian kid who plays rugby, your first target is to be a professional player in Japan. We have three leagues. Your quickest route is going through Japan. And so I wanted to hopefully kick-start that with this Mongolian kid. He’s going to university next year, and hopefully that progresses into a professional contract somewhere here.”

Leitch talks of not wanting to force Davaajav into a rugby career, but rather give him an array of options for his life he would not otherwise get. Big picture, Leitch dreams of tapping into talent all over the region too. He talks of having a team in Japan Rugby League One, heavily populated with talent from East Asia, Sri Lanka, India and beyond.

In his younger days, Leitch would compete in the Asian Five Nations (now the Asia Rugby Championship), and although Japan would run up big numbers against their rivals, he loved seeing the passion from sides like Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Thailand, Dubai.

There’s something missing there now, with these sides never getting to meet top-tier nations today. He has seen Japan grow the more major Tests they get, and he wants to pay some of that back into Asia – even if it means finding a handful of opportunities for promising kids. At least at first. There is talk of the project with Davaajav being used as proof of concept, to help open the door for more players.

The landscape for rugby in Mongolia

With Mongolia specifically, though, there is a unique cultural heritage there, as well as some fascinating ethnogeography to contend with.

“Our landscape is big, but our population is only 3.4 million,” explains Austin Gansukh, senior vice president of the union. Today based in the capital region of Ulaanbaatar, Gansukh was first introduced to the game when his brother-in-law James Wood – a Canada-born Hong Kong international – came to visit Mongolia right at the start of the 2000s. He brought an odd-shaped ball with him.

A wrestler and basketball player, he was drawn in by the contact, but there was so much more to the game and he’s been hooked ever since. He even opted to study in Cardiff, to tear into rugby more.

Gansukh continually calls rugby a developmental sport in Mongolia. But before he gives us more on the path ahead, we should probably have more on the uniqueness of the nation.

“There are 21 provinces. And if we split them into four regions – just north, east, south and west – you still have quite different sorts of backgrounds for lifestyle, even between them. Then even between our regions and provinces, you still have a competitive nature between them.

“Then there’s geographically. The western part of Mongolia is quite high, with a lot of hills and high mountains, lots of trees and things like that. Whereas in the south, we have the Gobi region. It’s a desert. So the lifestyle and the density of the populations are very, very different.

“In the north we have a very big lake. It’s more sort of sacred land where mining projects are not allowed, for example. Then in the east, it’s steppe land. We even have small accent differences all over. Then in the west we also have a minority population of Kazakhs. So it’s quite diversified. And when you put them all together, representing a national team, you have a very diversified team today.

“Each region produces different styles of wrestlers too, even in our national wrestling competition. So we have a lot of champions from the far western part of Mongolia and so on.”

Talking about styles of fighters, Gunning gives us the sumo view, saying: “Most still grow up in much harsher environments than Japanese kids. Tough, hardscrabble outdoor living that is similar to the burly young farmhands and manual workers that dominate in gridiron football in Oklahoma and Texas.

“Coming to Japan at a young age and with the pressure of needing to provide financially for family back home in many cases means there is much more at stake and so they train harder and fight more desperately than many Japanese kids who don’t have the same threat of shame that failure would bring.”

With Norvoo Davaajav, Leitch shares a video of the kid’s journey and also fills us in on the young man’s own modest upbringing. Of a father with hands that tell tales of graft as a cattle herder, a mother who now cleans hotels, and a family of around seven who found peace in a traditional yurt. The young man has not seen his family for the duration of the Covid crisis.

But there’s the game. And the contact.

Is battle in the blood? The role of history has not even occurred to us, but it’s something Gunning touches on when discussing the mentality of Mongolian rikishi (sumo wrestlers). Gansukh adds: “It’s right to say that we have a mentality from hundreds of years ago, with Genghis Khan and so on. He basically brought all the different tribes together and that made the difference, because the tribes used to fight each other all the time.

“We are a very proud nation about what we’ve achieved historically, so that’s why we carry that certain pride about how our ancestors used to dominate. That still carries some weight.”

What is helping carry rugby’s weight today in the country, though, is that it has been adopted by the army, with sevens. There is high school and uni rugby but fortuitously, Gansukh explains, the union pitched to the defence ministry and won them over with the sport’s story. There was a rugby championship in 2020 and in September the army will again put on a show.

Mongolia are a full member of World Rugby, as of last year. Their 15s side have a Test in July, against Uzbekistan, and if they win that they will face the winner of a showdown between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Gansukh says to expect a direct, physical game up front, with the hope that sevens-sharpened backs can capitalise.

As for the future, he says the aim is pretty simple: “We want to attract more foreign support.

“Our ideal path is to get the likes of Japanese professional teams to start looking at Mongolian rugby players. Because we have definitely got some really, really good talents, raw talents. If we can give some an opportunity to play in a professional league, even in the Japanese division three, they could make a really good, successful career out of that.

“Right now actually, we are in talks with a Japanese side about having a school exchange programme where we actually get some of our high school teams to travel to Japan, get shared experience of rugby and so on. So it’ll be cultural exchanges, as well as sporting experience. I think there are huge opportunities and that doesn’t stop with men’s rugby. We have a huge potential with our girls as well.

“Then from a local point of view, we just want to promote rugby more and get more people to participate in rugby.”

They are competing with individual combat sports for attention. Women’s 3×3 basketball has been a recent sensation in the run up to the last Olympics. But Gansukh believes the days of confusing rugby with American Football are over.

The last three Rugby World Cups were shown on Mongolian television and, Gansukh tells us, the sitting president of the Mongolian National Olympic Committee was actually at the last World Cup final in Japan.

There is progress happening, we are told, incrementally.

As for Leitch, right now he is loving his interactions with a “codehead” kid. As he tells us: “He makes me want to play more. I was thinking about retirement and now, just watching him progress, that’s awesome to see.

“Some players come over here, spent eight years and can’t speak a word of Japanese or they’re terrible. He’s been here two years now and he is texting me in Japanese. It’s amazing.”

The future of rugby in Mongolia is something to wrestle with. But there are combatants determined to create opportunities for players.