In May, the gold purchase of the Bank of Mongolia (BoM) was 2,152 kg, raising the BoM’s total precious metal purchase of 2022 to 6 tons. The figure shows a decrease of 14 percent as compared with the same period of the previous year.

Since the beginning of this year, the BoM branches in Darkhan-Uul and Bayankhongor aimags have bought 193.6 kg and 304.9 kg of precious metals respectively.

In May, the average price of BoM’s purchase of 1 gram of gold was MNT 193,114 last month.

The amount of greenhouse gas leaking from Australian coal mines has been hugely under-reported, a report says.

And unless quick action is taken, it could prevent the country from reaching its emission reduction targets.

The new report analysed methane being released from coal mines, finding the amount is twice the official estimates.

Australia's new government has pledged to cut emissions faster than its predecessor, but it has not ruled out supporting new coal mines.

Reducing emissions from methane - a potent greenhouse gas - is a renewed focus for world leaders.

The US, the EU and Indonesia - the world's biggest coal exporter - were among more than 100 countries that last year promised a 30% cut in methane emissions by 2030.

Australia ranks second for coal exports and is among the world's top methane emitters, but it did not sign on to the pledge.

Methane has more than 80 times the heating power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. It is estimated to be responsible for almost a third of the globe's warming since pre-industrial times.

In 2019, Australia's coal mines emitted 898,000 tonnes of methane, according to the federal industry department.

But the new report by UK think-tank Ember has found current methods of calculating those emissions are wrong - in the worst case by a factor of 10.

Previous estimates have been based on how much coal is produced rather than measuring how much gas leaked from mines, the report said.

Recent research using satellites have given a more accurate picture of pollution and have been adopted by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The IEA has estimated Australian coal mines emitted 1.8 million tonnes of methane in 2021, double the latest officially reported figures, the report said.

"Methane leaking from Australian coal mines has almost double the climate impact every year than all of Australia's cars," said Dr Sabina Assan, the report's author.

"At the current level, methane leaking from coal mines will put Australia's modest 2030 climate targets well out of reach."

The country has a 2030 goal of a 43% emissions cut, still short of allies like the UK and US.

The good news is that it is possible to tackle coal mine methane emissions quickly, says the report, which was commissioned by a climate change lobby group.

"[It] really is the low-hanging fruit in the fight against climate change," Dr Assan said.

The first step, it says, is to stop any new coal projects - dozens of which are currently being considered across Australia.

Retiring Australia's "gassiest" mines early will also drastically help, as will banning "venting" - the release of gas build-ups in underground coal mines into the air - and finding sustainable uses or storage for methane.

Existing technologies - if applied to all underground mines - have the potential to cut Australia's methane emissions by about 45%, the report said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's government has not commented on the report, but it previously said it will not leave "emissions intensive" industries - like mining - at a disadvantage to their global competitors.

It has also promised it will support new coal mines if they make commercial sense, and that it will not force coal-fired power stations to shut early.

Mongolia reported 109 new coronavirus infections, the coronavirus statistics as of June 8 showed.

59 of them were revealed among persons who had contact with the infected in Ulaanbaatar, 50 other cases were detected in regions.

No new imported cases of COVID-19 were reported.

The death toll remains at 2,116 as no new deaths related to COVID-19 were reported during the past day.

As the COVID-19 epidemic in other parts of China subsides, it's flaring up in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region which on Wednesday said it's registered 240 positive infections in the past six days.

Since the seven positive cases reported on June 2, the daily tally jumped to 81 on Tuesday. The current 240 positive infections spread in five areas of Inner Mongolia, with Erenhot, located in Xilingol League and bordering Mongolia, affected the most.

Senior local official urged to cut off viral transmission at a quick speed. Wang Lixia, the deputy Party chief of Inner Mongolia, noted on Tuesday that the epidemic in Erenhot, the focal point of this wave of epidemic resurgence, is severely complicated, stressing a quick speed to contain the virus.

Latest data released at Wednesday's press conference showed that Erenhot was hit by Omicron, which infected 224 people in the city with most showing mild symptoms.

The region now registers seven high-risk areas and one medium-risk area for COVID-19.

Since June 2, Erenhot has imposed static management with all communities under strict management and all residents being encouraged to work from home. The routes in and out of the city were suspended. If people would like to leave for special reasons, they should apply to local anti-epidemic department.

Another city, Chifeng, required all people at public posts to work from home. Two certificates of negative nucleic acid tests taken within 48 hours are required to leave the city.

Global Times

At today’s regular Cabinet meeting, a resolution on some measures to be taken to Erdenes Mongol LLC was approved.

According to the resolution, Erdenet Mining Corporation and Mongolrostsvetmet state-owned enterprise will be affiliated to Erdenes Mongol LLC. Also, Prime Minister L. Oyun-Erdene assigned the relevant officials to reduce the total number of the board members of the company’s subsidiaries from 207 to 27.

Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry G. Yondon said, “The Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry drafted a Bill on National Wealth Fund and presented it to the Government. The Government supported the Bill and decided to submit it to the Parliament for consideration. According to the Bill, Erdenes Mongol LLC will become the National Wealth Fund; thus the company’s structure, executive management, the Board of Directors, and mission and strategy of operations have been clearly specified in the Bill.”

Sydney-listed TMK Energy on June 8 said that drilling on Snow Leopard-2 (SL-02) in Mongolia has intersected a further 21 m of gassy coal in the lower seam, from a depth of 457 m to 478.5 m.

This is in addition to the 70 m of coal that was intersected in the upper seam at SL-02 and brings the total net coal thickness intersected to 91 m. “Coal core from both the upper and lower coal seams at SL-02 have been sampled for gas desorption testing and preliminary results indicate that both seams contain high gas contents,” the company said.

Drilling at SL-02 is now complete with the total depth of the well at 540 m. Downhole geophysical surveys are currently being completed in preparation for potentially completing further permeability testing on the coal intersections, subject to hole conditions.

The Gurvantes XXXV coalbed methane project in the South Gobi basin of Mongolia covers an area of 8,400 km2 and is situated around 20 km from the Chinese-Mongolian border and close to the northern China gas transmission and distribution network. TMK earlier this year completed the acquisition of Telmen Energy, which held a 100% interest in the Gurvantes XXXV project.

TMK CEO Brendan Stats said that the company's focus has now shifted to the fast-tracking of the pilot production system and early commercialisation opportunities.

Ukraine will not be exporting gas and coal to other countries, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday. He warned that the state is facing the “most difficult” winter since its independence 30 years ago, due to the ongoing military conflict with Russia.

“It’s OK, we have to go through it so that our people can feel that the state is functioning normally,” Zelensky said in an address posted on his Telegram channel. “At this time, we will not be selling our gas and coal abroad. All domestic production will be directed to the internal needs of our citizens," he added.

Zelensky demanded that the government do everything possible to ensure that gas and electricity prices stay unchanged for consumers in the upcoming heating season. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said that coal production in Ukraine’s state-owned mines has decreased by about a third since the end of February.

According to the International Energy Agency, Ukraine produces coal, natural gas and oil; however, the energy demand exceeds domestic supply, with the country having to import fossil fuels to cover an energy gap of about 35%.

Ukraine ranked sixth in the world for hard coal reserves in 2019, with coal accounting for over 90% of the country’s fossil fuels. Despite this, the IEA notes, Ukraine has increasingly relied on imports in recent years, with 70% of imported coal coming from Russia.

Much of the natural gas Ukraine imports also originates from Russia, as it travels into Ukraine through reverse flows from central and eastern European countries, the IEA says. Ukraine is an important transit country for gas supplies from Russia to Europe.

The coal, fuel and petroleum products that Ukraine exports mainly go to other former Soviet Republics as well as to Turkey and China, according to data from Trading Economics.

During its annual congress that took place in Finland, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has made the decision for 2023 IIHF World Championship Division IV to be hosted in the capital city of Mongolia.

Mongolia will be hosting the international tournament for the very first time on March 12-16, 2023. According to the State Committee for Physical Culture and Sports, teams of Mongolia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore will be competing in the tournament.

Mongolia plans to organize the supply of meat and other goods to Uzbekistan by charter flights, Spot reports citing the press service of the Agriculture Ministry.

This and other issues were discussed by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Alisher Turayev and Deputy Head of the Mongolian FM Batsumber Munkhjin, who arrived in Uzbekistan on a visit. The main topic of the meeting was the agricultural sector and cooperation in it.

During the conversation, it was noted that animal husbandry is the main branch of the agricultural sector in Mongolia. There are about 70 million cattle and small cattle in the country. The Mongolian side proposed to increase the supply of meat to Uzbekistan.

Now bilateral transportation of goods is carried out by land, Munkhjin said. To increase their volume, he proposed to establish charter flights.

Following the meeting, the parties agreed that Mongolia will increase the export of meat and meat products to Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan, in turn, will provide the Mongolian market with an additional volume of food and agricultural products.

MIAT - Mongolian Airlines (OM, Ulaanbaatar) is planning to launch B737-8 operations in July 2022, more than three years after the delivery of the only unit of the type, but will only proffer it to the ACMI market for the time being.

Broker Zela Aviation said EI-MNG (msn 43795) would be available for long-term wet-lease deals. The aircraft is configured for up to 162 passengers, including 12 in business class. MIAT took delivery of the aircraft on March 10, 2019, a few days before the type was grounded globally. Even though the B737 MAX was cleared to fly in the United States in late 2020 and subsequently in most other countries, Mongolia's only two neighbours, China and Russia, have yet to permit its operations. As such, MIAT cannot operate the aircraft commercially on international routes. Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows it operated a single technical flight in March 2022. Since then, EI-MNG has been stored at Uléi. It is owned by Avolon, the ch-aviation fleets ownership module shows.

The Mongolian flag carrier also operates three B737-800s and a single B767-300(ER). The B767 is also available for long-term wet-lease commitments through Zela Aviation, while one of the B737s will become available starting with the Winter 2022 season.