1 ZANDANSHATAR GOMBOJAV APPOINTED AS PRIME MINISTER OF MONGOLIA WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/06/13      2 WHAT MONGOLIA’S NEW PRIME MINISTER MEANS FOR ITS DEMOCRACY WWW.TIME.COM PUBLISHED:2025/06/13      3 ULAANBAATAR DIALOGUE SHOWS MONGOLIA’S FOREIGN POLICY CONTINUITY AMID POLITICAL UNREST WWW.THEDIPLOMAT.COM PUBLISHED:2025/06/13      4 THE UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND (UNICEF) IN MONGOLIA, THE NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR SUPPORTING THE BILLION TREES MOVEMENT, AND CREDITECH STM NBFI LLC HAVE JOINTLY LAUNCHED THE “ONE CHILD – ONE TREE” INITIATIVE WWW.BILLIONTREE.MN PUBLISHED:2025/06/13      5 NEW MONGOLIAN PM TAKES OFFICE AFTER CORRUPTION PROTESTS WWW.AFP.MN PUBLISHED:2025/06/13      6 GOLD, MINED BY ARTISANAL AND SMALL-SCALE MINERS OF MONGOLIA TO BE SUPPLIED TO INTERNATIONAL JEWELRY COMPANIES WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/06/13      7 AUSTRIA PUBLISHES SYNTHESIZED TEXTS OF TAX TREATIES WITH ICELAND, KAZAKHSTAN AND MONGOLIA AS IMPACTED BY BEPS MLI WWW.ORBITAX.COM  PUBLISHED:2025/06/13      8 THE UNITED STATES AND MONGOLIA OPEN THE CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN ULAANBAATAR WWW.MN.USEMBASSY.GOV  PUBLISHED:2025/06/12      9 MONGOLIA'S 'DRAGON PRINCE' DINOSAUR WAS FORERUNNER OF T. REX WWW.REUTERS.COM PUBLISHED:2025/06/12      10 MONGOLIA’S PIVOT TO CENTRAL ASIA AND THE CAUCASUS: STRATEGIC REALIGNMENTS AND REGIONAL IMPLICATIONS WWW.CACIANALYST.ORG  PUBLISHED:2025/06/12      БӨӨРӨЛЖҮҮТИЙН ЦАХИЛГААН СТАНЦЫН II БЛОКИЙГ 12 ДУГААР САРД АШИГЛАЛТАД ОРУУЛНА WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/15     ОРОН СУУЦНЫ ҮНЭ 14.3 ХУВИАР ӨСЖЭЭ WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/15     МОНГОЛ УЛСЫН 34 ДЭХ ЕРӨНХИЙ САЙДААР Г.ЗАНДАНШАТАРЫГ ТОМИЛЛОО WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/13     SXCOAL: МОНГОЛЫН НҮҮРСНИЙ ЭКСПОРТ ЗАХ ЗЭЭЛИЙН ХҮНДРЭЛИЙН СҮҮДЭРТ ХУМИГДАЖ БАЙНА WWW.ITOIM.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/13     МОНГОЛ БАНК: ТЭТГЭВРИЙН ЗЭЭЛД ТАВИХ ӨР ОРЛОГЫН ХАРЬЦААГ 50:50 БОЛГОЛОО WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/13     МОНГОЛ ДАХЬ НҮБ-ЫН ХҮҮХДИЙН САН, ТЭРБУМ МОД ҮНДЭСНИЙ ХӨДӨЛГӨӨНИЙГ ДЭМЖИХ САН, КРЕДИТЕХ СТМ ББСБ ХХК “ХҮҮХЭД БҮРД – НЭГ МОД” САНААЧИЛГЫГ ХАМТРАН ХЭРЭГЖҮҮЛНЭ WWW.BILLIONTREE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/13     ЕРӨНХИЙЛӨГЧИЙН ТАМГЫН ГАЗРЫН ДАРГААР А.ҮЙЛСТӨГӨЛДӨР АЖИЛЛАНА WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/13     34 ДЭХ ЕРӨНХИЙ САЙД Г.ЗАНДАНШАТАР ХЭРХЭН АЖИЛЛАНА ГЭЖ АМЛАВ? WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/13     “АНГЛИ ХЭЛНИЙ МЭРГЭШЛИЙН ТӨВ”-ИЙГ МУИС-Д НЭЭЛЭЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/13     Г.ЗАНДАНШАТАР БАЯЛГИЙН САНГИЙН БОДЛОГЫГ ҮРГЭЛЖЛҮҮЛНЭ ГЭЖ АМЛАЛАА WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/06/12    

Events

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

NEWS

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Cooperatives in Mongolia Celebrated 100th Anniversary www.icaap.coop

The first cooperative in Mongolia was established 100 years ago, on 02 November 1921, by the decree of the Bogd Khan under the name “People’s Mutual Aid Cooperative” with 116 members. Shortly after the victory of the People's Revolution, the leaders of that time initiated and found this cooperative as there was a need and the newly formed government also supported the cooperatives. This movement, united by wealth, labor, and desire made a significant contribution to the employment of many people and increased social labor productivity at that time.
Today, a total of 4,468 cooperatives with 234,633 members, incorporating MNT 49.6 billion, are making a significant contribution to the socio-economic development in Mongolia.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the cooperative movement, the Mongolian National Cooperative Alliance (MNCA) and the National Association of Mongolian Agricultural Cooperatives (NAMAC), organized many events with the Ministry of Agriculture and Light Industry to promote the cooperatives’ contribution to the country’s development. One of the key highlights of this celebration was the adoption of the newly revised law on cooperatives by the Parliament of Mongolia. The significant changes in the law will strengthen the governance of the cooperatives, protect the property of the cooperatives, and clarify the state's participation in the development of the cooperatives. The cooperators believe that the adoption of this law will help to improve the legal environment for further development of the Mongolian cooperative movement.
The Prime Minister of Mongolia, L.Oyun-Erdene, in the 7th National Forum of Cooperatives, organized as part of the 100th-anniversary celebrations, congratulated the cooperatives and appreciated their role in the country's development. He announced that the Government of Mongolia has decided to launch the “New Cooperatives” Campaign in 2022 to enrich a new model for modern development.
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Kincora Copper provides positive exploration and corporate update for Mongolian portfolio www.juniorminingnetwork.com

MELBOURNE, Australia, Feb. 11, 2022 /CNW/ - Kincora Copper Limited (the Company, Kincora) (TSXV: KCC) (ASX: KCC) is pleased to provide an exploration and corporate update following 2021 field season activities in Mongolia and an extension of the corporate agreement with Resilience Mining Mongolia Limited (Resilience) covering the Mongolian asset portfolio.
Sam Spring, President & CEO, commented:
"Kincora has continued to responsibly and systematically advance and add value to our prospective project pipeline in Mongolia's Southern Gobi, with promising results, as we work with and pursue the corporate agreement with Resilience. The agreement with Resilience provides attractive upside to Kincora shareholders and will streamline focus to our Macquarie Arc porphyry portfolio in Australia.
Last year's field activities have identified a new significant scale series of porphyry targets at Shuteen North, and separately advanced our understanding of the mineralised controls and size of the system at the more advanced West Fox target. These results further highlight the potential of our existing Mongolian project portfolio and logic of having a motivated and focused group like Resilience drive these assets forward to the next stage.
The Company has granted Resilience an extension to IPO on the ASX with a A$7.5 million to A$10 million offering, a new lead manager, reimbursement of certain Mongolian expenditures, and the definition of a maiden resource for the Bronze Fox project1.
The targets, team and foundations are in place for Resilience to add significant value this field season."
An accompanying detailed Mongolia focused exploration and corporate update presentation, with further details and figures to this release, is available at www.kincoracopper.com
Figure 1: A strategic and district scale position in Mongolia's world-class Southern Gobi porphyry belt
On China's doorstep, trucking distance to the world's largest copper consumer
Figure 2: Field season results generate and refine multiple targets
Three large and underexplored porphyry complexes on two adjacent Kincora licenses, which are covered by the corporate agreement with Resilience. Resilience is undertaking a maiden JORC &/or 43-101 resource for the Bronze Fox project at the existing Block Modelled area that supports the defined Exploration Target 1
Resilience agreement update
On June 30th, 2021, Kincora executed a definitive acquisition and joint-venture agreement with Resilience for Kincora's Mongolian asset portfolio.
This agreement was extended with completion proposed January 31st, 2022, with a further extension now being provided subject to:
Resilience having appointed a new lead manager for the proposed ASX listing (by 28 February, 2022);
Refunding Kincora a minimum of 50% of its Mongolian Maintenance Payments upon receipt of further pre-IPO funding;
Converting (at Resilience's expense) the Exploration Target to a JORC and/or NI 43-101 resource for the Bronze Fox project ahead of IPO 1,2 ; and,
Resilience raising A$7.5 million to A$10 million in new equity alongside IPO on the ASX (by 30 April 2022).
1 Resilience to convert (at Resilience's expense) the existing exploration target2 for Bronze Fox to a JORC &/or NI 43-101 resource prior to IPO on the ASX.
2 "76 holes for 24,129m supports an exploration target of 416-428Mt at 0.26-0.30% Cu for up to 2,437 Mlb copper & 0.84 Moz gold or 1.3-1.5Mt CuEq.
This estimate of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature and there is currently insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource. Since, some 24,000 m of drill core at the Bronze Fox Intrusive Complex has been reviewed and relogged by Kincora, adding to 8,000 m previously relogged.
This exercise addressed an issue with geological data quality that prevented reporting of a Mineral Resource in accordance with JORC and NI43-101 guidelines. A conceptual study undertaken at the same time as the Exploration Target explored the potential for a small, near surface oxide SX-EW project at Bronze Fox."
Sourced from the Mining Associates Technical Export Report Feb 25, 2021. Please refer to this report for further details.
This announcement has been authorised for release by the Board of Kincora Copper Limited (ARBN 645 457 763)
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Critical Reading of Advertisements in Mongolia www.cambridge.org

The new constitution of Mongolia was adopted on January 13, 1992. It stated that respecting and upholding human rights, freedom, and justice are crucial in Mongolia.
Mongolia has transformed into a vibrant democracy since 1990. Over the past 30 years, a free market economic system has become well established and thousands of commercials have been produced to attract and retain consumers. Advertisement law of Mongolia was passed in 2002. In the statement of law Article 7 – “Illegal advertisement”, the following advertisements shall be considered as an illegal advertisement: “7.4.5. Used the phrase, comparison or description that assaulted nationality, language, race, social origin, social status, age, sex, profession, education, religion or opinions.”
In the current research database and library of Mongolian Universities written in the Mongolian language, there is no empirical study regarding how consumers comprehend content, visual expression, phases of commercials that abused human rights, including discrimination. Article 14.2 in the new constitution of Mongolian affirmed that “No person shall be discriminated against based on ethnic origin, language, race, age, sex, religion, opinion, and education.
Therefore, in this study the following two objectives were set:
How an advertisement audience receives the content and description that discriminated against human beings.
Evaluate Mongolian students’ knowledge and sense of discrimination.
We undertook random sampling with University students. Participants were exposed to three advertisements.
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Figure 1
The first print advertisement was about racial discrimination. Several famous media companies published articles which considered this Dove print advertisement as racial discrimination. This advertisement for using Dove body wash was criticised for implying that ‘dirty’ black women could be ‘cleaned’ into a white woman.
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Figure 2
The second one was about body shape differences. The real beauty campaign rolls out seven different shapes of Dove-branded plastic body-wash bottles. Advertisement agents imply the idea that different shapes of bottles could represent different body shapes of women. But for some, this symbolic expression is offensive and they cannot aesthetically represent the beauty of a woman.
Figure 3
The third imagery of print advertisement was about discrimination on religion and culture. In different religions and cultures, people are sensitive to religious and cultural expressions. Specifically, Saudi Arabia Muslims regard the modifications of religious and cultural symbols as a form of disrespect and prejudice. The majority of Arabians viewed Starbucks’ new logo as racist and discriminatory based on religious differences. The reason is not all Arabians are strictly ruled by religious dress codes. Moreover, when a company thinks about Arabian women, they annotated (compared) Arabian women in Burqa as a kind of negative stereotyping.
Mongolians have a long history and unique culture. Therefore, most Mongolian people perceive discrimination on human body shape, mimicking on religious or cultural difference and racy expression as offensive and hurting someone’s feeling. As a result, the three advertisements mentioned above were chosen for this study.
The purpose was to determine whether the participants perceive the above advertisements as discriminatory or not. A total of 316 questionnaires were collected. Focus group discussions were then conducted to examine the further issues obtained from the results of quantitative analysis.
Seven questions were about general demographic questions, the remaining nine questions were about the correspondent’s knowledge of human rights abuse and discrimination. Some examples of the questions were: In which grade you are studying? household income, gender, residential location, etc were asked. Following up general demographic questions, questions designed to clarify explicit and implicit knowledge of participant’s human rights abuse. For example: do you think this print advertisement implies racial discrimination? Do you think this print advertisement discriminates against people based on their body shape? Do you think this print advertisement discriminates against people based on their religious and cultural differences? 85 (26.9%) were collected from fresher students, 69 (21.8%) were collected from sophomore students, 32 (10.1%) were collected from junior students, 45 (14.2%) were collected from senior students, and 85 (26.9%) were collected from graduate students. Of the total sample, 69.9% were female and 30.1% were male. In terms of household income, most of them 35.4 percent were 300-600$. 261 (82.6%) were collected from Ulaanbaatar city, 55 (17.4%) were collected from rural areas. According to the survey, 95.3 percent of the respondents use social media channels.
In cumulative percentage, 54% of the respondents recognised the discrimination.
The results of the current study show that students are aware of discrimination in advertisements, regardless of gender, location, type of residence, marital status, or source of information. However, our finding was that there are differences in perceptions and knowledge of human rights abuses depending on income level (55% recognised discrimination) and education level (60% recognised discrimination).
The evidence of our empirical study appears to show that critical reading of advertisements were varied depending on income level. In particular, the results of our quantitative research have proven that low-income participants (73% of total respondents) have a low level of awareness, sensitivity, and knowledge about human rights abuse.
Surprisingly, perhaps, graduate students were less able to recognise discrimination. They were less critical of Figure 1 and 3 than of Figure 2. This may be down to the nature of the discrimination or to other factors. We aim to study this further. Our study has revealed a level of uncritical reading of advertisements amongst the students we surveyed. We propose first that Mongolian businesses be educated on human rights in commercial contexts, including discriminatory advertisements and second, that younger people as they become consumers must be educated in engaging with advertisements critically and ethically.
Please see the original article on the link https://www.cambridge.org/.../critical-reading-of.../
BY: Enkhbold Chuluunbaatar is a multidisciplinary PhD who is interested in marketing and management, service design, industry investigation, entrepreneurship, strategic management. He received his PhD degree from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan and specialized in creative industries investigation. Currently, he is working as a senior lecturer at the National University of Mongolia.
Urandelger Gantulga received her Master and Ph.D degree from Chonbuk National University, in South Korea in 2013 and 2017 respectively. She is currently working as a senior lecturer at the National University of Mongolia. Her main areas of research interests are service marketing, business to business marketing, consumer behavior and e-commerce.
Erdenedalai Batulzii received her political science Master and Ph.D degree in National University of Mongolia, in 2010 and 2015. Currently, she is working as a senior lecturer at the National University of Mongolia. Her main research interests are democracy, political party, election, voter’s behavior, human right and political research methods.
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Exports of mineral products increased in the last two weeks www.montsame.mn

According to the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry, Mongolia's exports of mineral products have increased in the last two weeks compared to the previous weeks.
As of February 4-10, the country exported a total of 806.7 thousand tons of coal (1224 containers by road, 654 containers by rail), 124.5 thousand tons of copper concentrate (152 containers by road, 329 containers by rail) as well as 165.2 thousand tons of iron ore and concentrate (1086 containers by rail) from the beginning of the year.
The purchase of gold by the central bank was 1,663.0 kg from the beginning of the year, which shows an increase of 4.7 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
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Ivanhoe Mines, Gecamines sign deal to develop Kipushi zinc mine www.reuters.com

Ivanhoe Mines has signed an agreement with the Democratic Republic of Congo’s state mining company Gecamines to bring the Kipushi zinc mine back into commercial production, the Canada-listed miner said on Monday.
Kipushi will have an average grade of 36.4% zinc over the first five years of production, Ivanhoe said.
The deal, signed by Ivanhoe’s fully-owned subsidiary Kipushi Holding, sets out commercial terms towards a new joint-venture agreement, and is subject to execution of definitive documentation, Ivanhoe said.
(By Helen Reid; Editing by Jason Neely)
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Ordinary passport holders of 25 countries to travel visa-free to Mongolia www.montsame.mn

In connection with the Government’s decision to fully open the country’s borders to international travel and lift pandemic restrictions, a conference took place under the theme, ‘New Revival Policy - Tourism’, on February 14. The conference was organized at the initiative of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.
In aims of effectively implementing the ‘Vision-2050’ long-term development policy and boosting the productivity of government organizations, the Government recently approved the ‘New Revival Policy’, its program for implementation in phases, and large-scale development projects that are planned to be carried out in its framework.
During the conference, Minister of Foreign Affairs B.Battsetseg highlighted that the tourism sector has a crucial role in accelerating the country’s economy, and noted that the Ministry is focusing on smoother entry of foreign nationals traveling to Mongolia, and providing support for tourism by carrying out certain works.
Based on the effective practices of countries around the world, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is actively working to facilitate the travel conditions of foreign nationals, and further refining the legal environment for tourism and investment. Currently, visa exemption arrangements have been made for ordinary passport holders of 25 nationalities and diplomatic and official passport holders of 63 nationals.
Through the evisa.mn system, foreign nationals of 36 countries are also being issued three types of short-term visas in 20-72 hours.
Following the agreement that was reached on the issue of developing tourism in the Mongolia-China border region, the K3 visa has been introduced which is a three-day visa.
In the framework of Mongolia’s foreign policy, ‘Vision-2050’ long-term development policy, and the Government’s action plan for 2020-2024, a comprehensive program is currently being implemented on expanding cultural relations with other countries by accelerating promotional works abroad.
Through the 46 Diplomatic Representatives’ Offices around the world, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also consistently promotes the laws of Mongolia as well as the policies, decisions, and works being carried out by the Government. Within the aims of increasing the country’s competitiveness for tourism internationally, and developing sustainable tourism, support is being provided for developing cooperation in economy and tourism with other countries alongside promoting the Government’s policy on tourism development.
Furthermore, preparations have been recently completed for projects and programs aimed at boosting the country’s tourism sector with the involvement of Mongolian citizens abroad, and utilizing new opportunities in increasing the flow of foreign and domestic tourists in the country.
As for the issue concerning vaccinations, the mutual acknowledgement of ‘Health Certificate for International Travel’ or vaccine certificates have been reached with the countries of Kazakhstan, Hungary, Turkey, Japan, India, and the U.K, while talks are underway with countries such as Canada, UAE, South Korea, China, Russia, and the EU.
During the conference, the participants highlighted the importance of specifically defining the pressing issues for developing tourism in Mongolia and resolving them, increasing the sector’s competitiveness internationally, ensuring the correlation between the policy and works of corresponding organizations in order to improve the current conditions for tourism based on public-private-people partnership, and organizing promotional works abroad comprehensively by handling the matter through a ‘single window’.
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COVID-19: 609 new cases, two deaths reported www.montsame.mn

On February 15, 609 new cases of COVID-19 have been detected after conducting PCR tests nationwide within the past 24 hours, reported the Ministry of Health. More specifically, 286 new cases were detected in the capital city, with 323 cases in rural regions.
Furthermore, two new COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, raising the country’s death toll to 2,076. Currently, 6,520 people are receiving hospital treatment for COVID-19, while 21,783 people with mild symptoms of COVID-19 are being isolated at home.
Of the total patients currently undergoing treatment at hospitals, there are 570 patients in critical, and 54 patients in very critical condition.
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China, Mongolia Finalize Major Railroad Crossing Points www.thediplomat.com

Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai and his delegation recently concluded a five-day working visit to China. During his visit, Oyun-Erdene attended the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other high-level officials, including Premier Li Keqiang. In addition, the two sides reached a significant breakthrough on railroad and infrastructure projects that have been stalled for more than a decade.
On February 7, Xi received the Mongolian prime minister at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. During the high-level meeting, Xi expressed China’s goal for cooperation with Mongolia, with an emphasis on infrastructure and development-based projects.
According to China’s Foreign Ministry, “Xi Jinping stressed that both sides should respect each other’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, respect each other’s choice of development path, accommodate each other’s core interests, and firmly steer the proper development of China-Mongolia relations.”
In a joint statement, Mongolia and China reiterated respect for each other’s independence and territorial integrity, as well as the principle of non-interference in domestic politics. They also pledged to engage in cooperation and assistance as comprehensive strategic partners. Mongolia hopes to accelerate economic activities, including trade, major infrastructure projects, railroad, and development-based cooperation. According to the foreign minister of Mongolia, Battsetseg Batmunkh, Oyun-Erdene and Xi held a “fruitful high-level dialogue.”
During the exchanges, the two sides discussed plans for railroads at the Gashuunsukhait-Gantsmod and Shiveekhuren-Sekhee border crossings. This has been a long-standing priority for Mongolia, particularly the construction of a railway at Gashuunsukhait-Gantsmod – the port handles more than 50 percent of Mongolia’s copper and coking coal exports. Oyun-Erdene had urged Xi to “pay special attention” to railway construction at Gashuunsukhait-Gantsmod during their meeting.
In October 2021, Mongolia’s road and transportation development minister, Khaltar Luvsan, explained the necessary steps that needs to be taken by both Mongolia and China in order to finalize the railroad border crossing points. “Mongolia and China need to address and finalize two issues regarding the Gashuunsukhait-Gantsmod port. First, we need to agree on where the railroad border crossing meets,” Khaltar said. “Second, we need to follow the aegis of the international freight protocols, which means Mongolian coals will be transferred to the Chinese trains in Gantsmod.”
During the February meetings, Mongolia and China finalized these two protracted issues in a breakthrough – particularly for the Mongolian side.
The Gashuunsukhait-Gantsmod border crossing has been a contentious topic for Mongolian policymakers for years. Although different parties and ministries have agreed on the economic importance of the railroad, they disagreed on many important technical aspects such as the railroad gauge, allocation of investment, and the environmental and geological impacts that come with such a significant megaproject. The financial question was one of the major hurdles as well. The China-proposed railroad project is more costly than what the Mongolians envisioned.
Finalizing agreements on the border crossing points does not mean these dynamics have disappeared or been overlooked. In particular, the proposed railroad may go through a nationally protected heritage site. Remaining issues need to be fully addressed and solved by the Mongolian side.
From a geopolitical standpoint, Mongolia’s landlocked position poses a constant struggle for administrations to push their economic agenda. Mongolia’s foreign policy, especially relations with its two neighbors – Russia and China – must construct tangible economic benefits. Establishing strong relations with China and Russia, gives Mongolia access to maritime routes and the ability to trade with and export to third-neighbor countries.
The recent China-Mongolia bilateral agreements illustrate Mongolia’s economic goals. In China’s case, the objectives entail more geopolitical nuance.
China has a growing need to strengthen its diplomatic relations in general as it continues to compete strategically with the United States. Beijing’s strategy amid the geopolitical competition is to bolster economic ties with countries around the world, with the expectation that will lead to increased political support. It is strategically crucial, then, for Beijing to accelerate bilateral agreements, negotiations, economic, and trade deals.
On the energy front in particular, China has more immediate needs as well. After experiencing months of energy shortage, China’s short- and long-term goals are to secure energy sources for state-owned factories and private enterprises alike. The Chinese government has an opportunity to ensure increased energy supply from Russia and Mongolia Russia and Mongolia. Pushing forward plans to increase connectivity with Mongolia will help in that regard. Mongolia’s proximity and high-quality coal might be exactly what China needs – and increased trade will work to Mongolia’s economic advantage.
The successful working visit of Oyun-Erdene promised an elevated comprehensive strategic partnership between the two governments. As Mongolia continues to implement its long-term development strategy, Vision 2050, activating economic strategic partnership with China will incentivize other partners to step up their economic game with Mongolia.
BY: Bolor Lkhaajav
Bolor Lkhaajav is a researcher specializing in Mongolia, China, Russia, Japan, East Asia, and the Americas. She holds an M.A. in Asia-Pacific Studies from the University of San Francisco.
 
 
 
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Five elite Illinois National Guard soldiers deployed from Arsenal to Mongolia www.ourquadcities.com

As much of the nation watched pre-game Super Bowl hype, five soldiers with the Illinois Army National Guard were launched Sunday on a super showdown of their own. But this team’s big game won’t be held in sunny California, but the ancient Asian land of Mongolia.
A logistics advisor team of five soldiers from the Illinois Army National Guard’s elite 6th Battalion, 54th Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB) held a deployment ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 13, at the Rock Island Arsenal. After a short training in Texas, the team will join the active-duty Army’s 5th SFAB based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., to deploy to Mongolia. The six-month deployment is the first for the Illinois National Guard’s SFAB unit and represents the first SFAB to support the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, according to a Monday release.
The SFAB is an elite unit with a core mission to conduct training, advising, assisting, enabling and accompanying operations with allied and partner nations. The Illinois Army National Guard’s SFAB unit was activated in 2020, after about a year and a half of organizing the unit. The 6th Battalion, based at Rock Island Arsenal, represents the logistics experts in the 54th SFAB. The 54th SFAB headquarters is in Indiana.
“We just feel a tremendous amount of pride sending this team off,” said Maj. Keri Wolf, the officer-in-charge of 6th Battalion and one of the original full-time Active Guard-Reserve (AGR) officers charged with manning, equipping and training the new unit. “To see this all come to fruition is just a great feeling.”
Lt. Col. Bradley Roach, the 6th Battalion Commander, said he was “jealous” of the deploying team. “Although you are few in numbers, the positive effect you can have on the future relations between the United States and Mongolia is great.” Roach said the SFAB doesn’t just advise foreign defense forces, it also builds lasting relationships and trust between nations. Mongolia is an independent Asian nation sandwiched between China and Russia.
The logistics advisory team, designated Team 6621, consists of an officer-in-charge, a noncommissioned officer-in-charge/transportation expert, a supply/quartermaster expert, a maintenance expert, and a medical expert. “While they are all experts in their own field, they are also cross-trained in the other areas so they can effectively advise in any of the areas of Army logistics,” Wolf said.
Col. Tim Newman, the Commander of the 108th Sustainment Brigade, the 6th Battalion’s higher headquarters in Illinois, told the families of the deploying Guard members to please reach out if they needed support. “We are here for you,” Newman said.
Capt. Cameron Worley, a native of Peoria and officer-in-charge of the team, said he was excited for the deployment and promised to take good care of the soldiers while they are in Mongolia. In six months the team is slated to be replaced in Mongolia with another team from 6th Battalion.
“I’m honored to lead this first team and to go do what this unit is designed to do,” he said.
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First undercut rings fired at Oyu Tolgoi block cave mine in Mongolia marking the start of underground production www.im-mining.com

Following a new long-term agreement between Rio Tinto, Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ) and the Government of Mongolia, underground production has formally started at Oyu Tolgoi. In a major step forward, and after excavation of over 90 km of tunnels over 11 years, the first undercut rings were recently fired at the Oyu Tolgoi underground block cave copper mine in Mongolia by teams from Oyu Tolgoi including Technical Services Drill and Blast & Production working with blasting services partners Orica and Mera, and underground services contractor Redpath. The commencement of undercut blasting marks the start of the production phase of the Oyu Tolgoi underground mine and the mine is now beginning caving operations. The underground mine is expected to achieve sustainable production for Panel 0 in the first half of 2023.
The first undercut blast created a vertical void from the Apex to the undercut level (UCL) and involved 114 holes being charged with 6 t of explosives. Once charging was complete, the blast was initiated remotely using an electronic blasting system. The Hugo-Dummett deposit will be mined in a series of lifts, the first stage being Hugo North Lift 1 (500 Mt) that will utilise the panel caving mining technique. The Lift 1 mining levels are approximately 1,300 m below surface. Six distinct levels have been developed to mine Lift 1. The Apex level is 17 m above the undercut level, which in turn is 17 m above the extraction level (floor to floor). The haulage level is 44 m below the extraction level. In the footprint area, the exhaust ventilation level lies between the extraction and haulage levels.
Undercut blasting extends 18 m (one drawbell spacing) from the centre of draw in each production drive to ensure cave propagation for drawbells along the cave edge. The undercut and Apex level perimeter drives are located a minimum of 32.5 m outside the undercut blasting area to protect against cave abutment stress. After blasting an undercut ring approximately 60% of the blasted tonnage (the swell) from the ring will be mucked from the undercut level. On the extraction level, an El Teniente-style drawpoint layout is proposed for the entire footprint with drawpoints angled at 60⁰ to the extraction drives.
Mine access and ventilation of workings is enabled by a series of five shafts as well as the C2S conveyor access. Shaft 1 (6.7 m diameter) and Shaft 2 (10 m diameter) are multipurpose service, production, and intake ventilation shafts sunk to a depth of 1,385 m and 1,284 m respectively. Shaft 3 is a 10 m diameter concrete-lined intake shaft, with a depth of 1,148 m. Shaft 4 is an 11 m diameter concrete-lined exhaust shaft, with a depth of 1,209 m. Shaft 5 is a 6.7 m diameter concrete lined exhaust shaft, with two underground ventilation stations and a depth of 1,178 m. The conveyor to surface (C2S) system comprises three identical 2,202 m long 1.6 m wide steel cord conveyors operating at 6 m/s and capable of conveying the full planned production rate of 32 Mt/y. The conveyors have been installed in a 6 m wide by 5.4 m high conveyor decline.
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