In the world’s high mountain regions, life needs ice. From the Rockies to the Himalayas, glaciers and other accumulations of snow and ice persist throughout the year. Often found on shaded slopes protected from the sun, these ice patches transform barren peaks into biological hot spots.

As an archaeologist, I value these snow and ice patches for the rare peek they can provide back in time through the fog of alpine prehistory. When people lose objects in the ice, ice patches act as natural deep-freezers. For thousands of years, they can store snapshots of the culture, daily life, technology and behavior of the people who created these artifacts.

Frozen heritage is melting from mountain ice in every hemisphere. As it does so, small groups of archaeologists are scrambling to cobble together the funding and staffing needed to identify, recover and study these objects before they are gone.

Alongside a group of scholars from the University of Colorado, the National Museum of Mongolia and partners from around the world, I’m working to identify, analyze and preserve ancient materials emerging from the ice in the grassy steppes of Mongolia, where such discoveries have a tremendous impact on how scientists understand the past.

Life at the ice’s edge

During the warm summer months, unique plants thrive at the well-watered margins of ice patches. Large animals such as caribou, elk, sheep and even bison seek the ice to cool off or escape from insects.

Because ice patches are predictable sources of these plants and animals, as well as fresh water, they are important to the subsistence of nearby people nearly everywhere they’re found. In the dry steppes of Mongolia, meltwater from mountain ice feeds summer pastures, and domestic reindeer seek out the ice in much the same way as their wild counterparts. Climate warming aside, ice margins act as magnets for people — and repositories of the materials they leave behind.

It’s not just their biological and cultural significance that makes ice patches important tools for understanding the past. The tangible objects made and used by early hunters or herders in many mountainous regions were constructed from soft, organic materials. These fragile objects rarely survive erosion, weather and exposure to the severe elements that are common in alpine areas. If discarded or lost in the ice, though, items that would otherwise degrade can be preserved for centuries in deep-freeze conditions.

But high mountains experience extreme weather and are often far from urban centers where modern researchers are concentrated. For these reasons, significant contributions by mountain residents to the human story are sometimes left out of the archaeological record.

For example, in Mongolia, the high mountains of the Altai hosted the region’s oldest pastoral societies. But these cultures are known only through a small handful of burials and the ruins of a few windswept stone buildings.

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artifacts are melting out of the ice

One of our discoveries was a finely woven piece of animal hair rope from a melting mountaintop ice patch in western Mongolia. On survey, we spotted it lying among the rocks exposed at the edge of the retreating ice. The artifact, which may have been part of a bridle or harness, appeared as though it might have been dropped in the ice the just day before — our guides even recognized the technique of traditional manufacture. However, scientific radiocarbon dating revealed that the artifact is actually more than 1,500 years old.

Objects like these provide rare clues about daily life among the ancient herders of western Mongolia. Their excellent preservation allows us to perform advanced analyses back in the lab to reconstruct the materials and choices of the early herding cultures that eventually gave rise to pan-Eurasian empires like the Xiongnu and the Great Mongol Empire.

For example, scanning electron microscopy allowed to us to pinpoint that camel hair was chosen as a fiber for making this rope bridle, while collagen preserved within ancient sinew revealed that deer tissue was used to haft a Bronze Age arrowhead to its shaft.

Sometimes, the objects that emerge end up overturning some of archaeologists’ most basic assumptions about the past. People in the region have long been classified as herding societies, but my colleagues and I found that Mongolian glaciers and ice patches also contained hunting artifacts, like spears and arrows, and skeletal remains of big game animals like argali sheep spanning a period of more than three millennia. These finds demonstrate that big game hunting on mountain ice has been an essential part of pastoral subsistence and culture in the Altai Mountains for thousands of years.

But the clock is ticking. The summer of 2021 is shaping up to be one of the hottest ever recorded, as scorching summer temperatures fry the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest and wildfires ravage the Siberian Arctic. The impact of escalating temperatures is particularly severe in the world’s cold regions.

In the area my colleagues and I study in western Mongolia, satellite photos show that more than 40% of the surface cover of ice has been lost over the past three decades. After each artifact is exposed by the melting ice, it may have only a limited window of time for recovery by scientists before it is damaged, degraded or lost because of the combination of freezing, thawing, weather and glacial activity that can affect previously frozen artifacts.

Because of the scale of modern climate change, it’s difficult to quantify how much material is being lost. Many of the high mountains of Central and South Asia have never been systematically surveyed for melting artifacts. In addition, many international projects have been unable to proceed since summer 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic — which has also prompted reductions, pay cuts and even complete closures of archaeology departments at leading universities.

Revealed by warming, providing climate clues

Ice patch artifacts are irreplaceable scientific datasets that can also help researchers characterize ancient responses to climate change and understand how modern warming may affect today’s world.

In addition to human-made artifacts left behind in the snow, ice patches also preserve “ecofacts” — natural materials that trace important ecological changes, like shifting tree lines or changing animal habitats. By collecting and interpreting these datasets along with artifacts from the ice, scientists can gather insights into how people adapted to significant ecological changes in the past, and maybe expand the toolkit for facing the 21st-century climate crisis.

Meanwhile, the plant, animal and human communities that depend on dwindling ice patches are also imperiled. In northern Mongolia, my work shows that summer ice loss is harming the health of domestic reindeer. Local herders worry about the impact of ice loss on pasture viability. Melting ice also converges with other environmental changes: In western Mongolia, animal populations have dramatically dwindled because of poaching and poorly regulated tourism hunting.

As soaring heat exposes artifacts that provide insights into ancient climate resilience and other important scientific data, the ice loss itself is reducing humanity’s resilience for the years ahead.

Rio Tinto and Sumitomo Corporation announced on Tuesday they will jointly study the construction of a hydrogen pilot plant at Rio’s Yarwun alumina refinery in Gladstone, Australia.

Sumitomo had already been carrying out studies into building a hydrogen plant but hadn’t chosen a location. Rio, in turn, recently started a feasibility study into replacing natural gas with hydrogen in the alumina refining process.

If the partners choose to proceed, the pilot plant would produce hydrogen for the Japanese miner’s Gladstone Hydrogen Ecosystem project, announced in March, which is also located in Queensland’s Gladstone, a traditional coal and gas hub.

Green hydrogen — produced by stripping the gas from water using electrolyzers powered by wind and solar — is seen as key to eliminating carbon emissions from the industrial sector.

Most Australian mines are already transitioning to renewable power and either turning to or expanding their electric vehicles fleets. Hydrogen is the next frontier.

“Reducing the carbon intensity of our alumina production will be key to meeting our 2030 and 2050 climate targets,” Rio Tinto Australia chief executive Kellie Parker said in the statement. “There is clearly more work to be done, but partnerships and projects like this are an important part of helping us get there.”

Energy hungry regions, particularly north-east Asia and Europe, lack the natural resources to generate large scale clean energy. This is particularly true in Japan, where nuclear energy has become politically and practically toxic.

The answer, as the country has very publicly committed to, is to transition to 100% green ammonia, which is the demand the growing number of large-scale green hydrogen projects in Australia are looking to meet.

The first meeting of the National Committee in charge of stimulating the economy amid the pandemic, increasing export, promoting import-substitute national manufacturing, strengthening public-private partnership and increasing investment took place in August 24.

The committee is chaired by Prime Minister of Mongolia L.Oyun-Erdene. At the beginning of the meeting the Prime Minister said, “Stimulating the post-pandemic economy is not an easy task. Thus, there is a necessity to quickly carry out works. The government has been mainly focusing on acquiring COVID-19 vaccines, launching immunization works, reopening the economy in phases, and keeping jobs within the first 100 days after the new government’s formation. By the 200th day of its formation, we were able to immunize 60 percent of the country’s population. We also fulfilled the objective to reopen the economy, allowing normal operations. In order to stimulate our economy, a National Committee has been established with the participation of representatives from each sector. With the establishment of this committee, a bill on economic recovery during the pandemic will be drafted.”

Representatives of public and private sector put forth suggestions for measures to be taken on recovering the economy. In particular, President of the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI) O.Amartuvshin has submitted suggestions and proposals received from entities in the private sector to the working group in charge of developing the bill.

During the meeting, Director-General of Erdenet Mining Corporation (EMC) state-owned enterprise highlighted that the corporation has had a sales revenue of MNT 2.2 trillion this year. “We have developed plans for the current pandemic situation as well as for the post-pandemic condition. By enhancing management, it is estimated that our mining corporation will earn MNT 5.8 trillion in income by 2024, reaching MNT 12 trillion by 2028. We plan to increase export by USD 150 million in 2024 by further developing our current structure and organization,” said the EMC Director-General.

Following the comments of the members of the National Committee, the Prime Minister gave a number of instructions. More specifically, the Committee will be setting up a working group to develop a quarterly plan to overcome the pandemic economy, draft a bill regarding the matter, and receive suggestions from foreign investors and the private sector.

At today’s Cabinet meeting, the current nationwide regime of heightened state of readiness - the Orange Level of regulations has been extended until December 31.

More specifically, the Orange Level of regulations that are currently in place is due to expire on August 31, but the domestic transmission of the Delta variant as well as the high risk for imported cases of the Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants has spurred calls to extend it. In connection with the decision, the current restrictions in place for all border checkpoints except for Chinggis Khaan air border crossing point have been extended until the end of the year.

Under the Orange Level of restrictions, the current way of operations will continue to be allowed, with no strict lockdowns imposed.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia B.Battsetseg has held a telephone conversation with Minister of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates Ahmed Bin Ali Al Sayegh and exchanged views on bilateral relations and cooperation.

Expressing satisfaction with the development of friendly relations and cooperation between Mongolia and the UAE, and noting that 2021 marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Minister B.Battsetseg said that Mongolia is actively working to open its embassy in Abu Dhabi. She also thanked the Government of the UAE for the successful implementation of the project to build three kindergartens which was realized within the UAE’s non-refundable aid, while expressing confidence that they will make a valuable contribution to the future of the country's children.

Minister of State Ahmed Bin Ali Al Sayegh expressed his commitment to expand the bilateral cooperation, emphasizing the importance of having a double taxation agreement which will have a significant impact on enhancing trade and economic cooperation. The sides agreed to meet in person during the UN General Assembly which will be held in September.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Mongolia (MCAA) introduced the international flights scheduled for October.

“In the month of October, 37 international flights are planned to be conducted. However, the flight times of some flights may change due to works carried out in accordance with infection prevention guidelines,” reported the MCAA.

Citizens who want to buy a ticket in accordance with the approved flight schedules should directly contact the airline carriers.

While 37 international flights are scheduled for October, a total of 29 flights are scheduled for September. As of currently, international flights are being conducted to the following cities:

• Seoul - MIAT Mongolian Airlines, Korean Air, Asiana Airlines,

• Frankfurt - MIAT Mongolian Airlines,

• Tokyo - MIAT Mongolian Airlines,

• Almaty - Hunnu Air,

• Istanbul - Turkish Airlines,

• Nur Sultan - Hunnu Air.

In July 2021, consumer price index at the national level grew by 1.3% from the previous month, by 8.4% from the end of the previous year and by 7.4% from the same period of the previous year.

The 7.4% increase in consumer price index from the same period of previous year was mainly contributed by 11.2% increase in prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages group (meat and meat products by 16.0% nonalcoholic beverages by 8.7%), 3.4% increase in prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco group, 3.6% increase in prices of clothing, cloth and footwear group, prices of housing, water, electricity and fuels group increased by 4.9% (electricity, gas and other fuels increased by 5.5%), 5.6% increase in prices of medicine and medical service group and 13.7% increase in prices of transport group.

The 8.4% increase in consumer price index from the end of previous year was mainly contributed by 15.8% increase in prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages group, 14.1% increase in prices of housing, water, electricity and fuels group, 3.8% increase in prices of medicine and medical service group and 12.2% increase in prices of transport group.

The 1.3% increase in CPI from the previous month was mainly resulted from 0.3% decrease in prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages group (meat and meat products by 2.2%), 0.6% increase in prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco group, 0.6% increase in prices of medicine and medical service group and 9.0% increase in prices of transport group.

The inflation rate was 7.7% in July 2018, 7.7% in July 2019, 3.4% in July 2020 and reached 7.4% in July 2021, increased by 4.0 percentage points from the same period of previous year.

In terms of contribution of price changes of goods and services groups to 7.4% inflation rate in July 2021, 3.2 units (43.2%) were contributed from changes in prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages group.

The price of 373 items was collected for the consumer goods and services basket at the national level and prices of 344 items collected for goods and services basket in Ulaanbaatar. Out of 373 selected items of goods and services, 200 items were imported goods and services, which accounts for 45.5% of the total weight.

In July 2021, 50.0% of 7.4% inflation rate was mainly contributed by an increase in prices of imported goods and services. However, the contribution of prices of imported goods and services increased by 32.4 percentage points compared to July 2020.

In July 2021, the highest increase in CPI for goods was 9.6% in Ulaanbaatar city, and the highest increase in CPI for services was 3.4% in the Western and Eastern regions.

In July 2021, the highest increase in CPI for food items was 12.9% in the Western region, and the highest increase in CPI for non-food items was 6.8% in Ulaanbaatar city.

Source: National Statistics Office of Mongolia

Rail transport: In the first seven months of 2021, 18.4 million tonnes of freight were carried by railway transport and increased by 1.5 million tonnes (9.1%) compared to the same period of previous year.

In July 2021, carried freight from railway transport reached 2.5 million tonnes, decreased by 73.1 thousand tonnes (2.9%) compared to the previous month.

In the first seven months of 2021, 81.9% of carried freight by railway transport was mining freight, 12.4% was construction materials, 1.1% was food products, 0.8% was agricultural products, 1.1% was black iron, 0.4% was wood products and 2.5% was other products.

In the first seven months of 2021, no passengers were transported by rail due to the public emergency readiness regime as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.

In the first seven months of 2021, the revenue from railway transport reached MNT 459.8 billion, increased by MNT 22.9 billion or (5.2%) compared to the same period of previous year. This increase was mainly due to increases in the transportation of mining products, namely, coal, flours and spar concentrates, construction material and food consumer products.

In July 2021, the revenue reached MNT 66.9 billion, decreased by MNT 498.9 million (0.7%) compared to the previous month.

Air transport: In the first seven months of 2021, 2.3 thousand tonnes of freight carried by air transportation and increased by 710.5 tonnes (44.4%) compared to the same period of the previous year.

In the first seven months of 2021, the total carried domestic freight by air transport reached 8.8 tonnes (0.4%) and decreased by 38.2 tonnes (81.3%) compared to the same period of the previous year. The international freight reached 2.3 thousand tonnes (99.6%) and increased by 748.7 tonnes (48.2%) compared to the same period of the previous year.

In July 2021, carried freight of air transport reached 370.8 tonnes, increased by 18.7 tonnes (5.3%) compared to the previous month.

In the first seven months of 2021, 70.2 thousand passengers (in repeated counting) carried by air transport. The number of carried passengers decreased by 259.3 thousand (78.7%) compared to the same period of the previous year. In July 2021, the number of passengers reached 12.0 thousand, decreased by 3.7 thousand (23.6%) compared to the previous month.

In the first seven months of 2021, the total carried domestic passengers by air transport reached 41.9 thousand passengers (59.7%), decreased by 145.5 thousand passengers (77.6%) compared to the same period of the previous year. This was mainly due to 97.3 % decrease in the number of passengers from Ulaanbaatar to Murun, 90.9 % decrease in passengers to Ulaangom and 89.0 % decrease in passengers to Uliastai.

In the first seven months of 2021, the total carried international passengers reached 28.3 thousand (40.3%), decreased by 113.8 thousand passengers (80.1%) compared to the same period of the previous year.

In the first seven months of 2021, the revenue from air transport (domestic airline) reached MNT 89.7 billion, decreased by MNT 8.1 billion or (8.3%) compared to the same period of previous year. In July 2021, the revenue reached MNT 17.4 billion, decreased by MNT 1.1 billion (5.9%) compared to the previous month.

Source: National Statistics Office of Mongolia

Maximilian Johnson, the younger half-brother of Britain's prime minister, has run into trouble in Mongolia. He works for a Hong Kong-based fund GRF2 that invested $19mn along with several other big investors into the Zasag Chandmani multi-metal mine, but now the owner appears to have run off with most of the money.

The Mongolian police - the economic crimes and fraud squad - has investigated the case and found evidence of fraud, embezzling and money laundering by the mine’s owner, Buyantogtokh Dashdeleg, and two other senior managers at the mine, the CEO, Erdenebatkhaan and the CFO, Tsend-Ayush of the project company Zasag Chandmani Mines.

Arrest warrants were issued and their passports were confiscated. However, in 2019 Dashdeleg appealed to a regional court that overturned the arrest warrant and he immediately skipped town and is now believed to be in the US.

After a year of inactivity Johnson and his partners complained to the authorities, who kicked the case up to the General Prosecutor, who ordered a trial. That was four months ago and the investors are now waiting for the case to be called. With a new government in office following general elections the case has become a litmus test for the government, which has promised to improve Mongolia’s battered investment image in an effort to attract more money into the country.

Long road

Johnson has had a colourful career and the road that brought him to Ulaanbaatar was a long one. Born in Brussels where the brothers' father was working for the European Commission, he studied Russian at Oxford. He ended up as a metals trader in Hong Kong for five years and also did a stint at Goldman Sachs, where he got to know Simon Murray, a famous investor and the former head of investment company Hutchison Whampoa and commodity trader Glencore, as well as being the founder of the Orange mobile phone company, amongst other things.

Murray was interested in Mongolia and his private investment vehicle GEMS set up GRF2 to invest into the Zasag Chandmani mine. As Murray and Johnson were acquainted and Murray knew that Johnson spoke Russian he invited the younger man to come into the firm and oversee the Mongolian project in 2018.

“Murray knew I spoke Russian and asked me to help on the mine project,” says Johnson. “It should have been a good project. It's a poly-metallic deposit with gold, copper and iron ore. We lent $19mn in a convertible credit note to finance getting the mine going, along with other investors.”

The GRF2 convertible debt could eventually be turned into a 30% share of the company. GRF2 followed the commodity trader Nobel Resources into the deal that had also committed $15mn. The money was supposed to be used on equipment and starting production, but things soon began to go wrong.

Both investors did their due diligence, but as time passed production at the mine failed to start.

“We had seats on the board, but the company didn't call many board meetings. They were sending us reports and management accounts – but, well, those were produced by the management,” says Johnson, who is currently based in Indonesia due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. “At one point GRF2 asked for audited accounts, but the management said they had no money and if the investors wanted audited accounts we would have to pay for it ourselves. It was around then the alarm bells began to ring.”

Investigations and charges

As relations deteriorated the investors began to demand their money back. Johnson reports that Dashdeleg offered to repay the credit at 20 cents on the dollar, which all parties refused. However, eventually Nobel did accept some sort of deal and exited the deal.

GRF2 decided to stick to its guns and at least try to recover the principal; under Mongolian law if you go to court to recover a debt you can only claim the principal amount and interests incurred are bad debts in your books, unlike in the west.

Johnson took the case to the local economic crimes and fraud squad, which opened an investigation.

“The police were fantastic and investigated the case thoroughly. They uncovered a considerable amount of evidence that showed the details of embezzlement and money laundering,” Johnson said.

The police then issued travel bans on the company’s CEO and CFO and confiscated their passports in the beginning of 2020, following the flight by the mastermind, Buyantogtokh. Amongst other scams, the police discovered that the mine was signing purchase orders with service companies at vastly inflated prices that turned out to be shell companies controlled by the owner and his staff, or their friends and close relatives.

“It wasn't even clear if these goods and services were ever delivered,” says Johnson. Some of the credits were spent on equipment but the police evidence suggests some $10mn-$15mn was drained out of the company using shell companies and related party transactions.

However, a district court judge later overturned the travel ban on 31st December, when people were preparing for the New Year’s Celebration, and within three hours of the ruling, Buyantogtokh left the country for Korea. Since then Interpol has issued a Red Notice warrant for Dashdeleg, who is now on the international wanted list. After continuing to push the case was reactivated and Johnson and GRF2 are now waiting for a case to go to court where the project company, Zasag Chandmani Mines, it’s CEO and CFO will be tried on charges of fraud, embezzlement, money-laundering and counterfeiting.

“At this point all we want to do is get our money back,” says Johnson, who has been quietly lobbying to move the process forward. “This case is important not just for us but for the wider investment climate. Mongolia needs to show there is a level playing field for investors, that the rule of law works.”

GRF2 is not the only investment that has gone awry, but the government badly needs to bring in investors to exploit its huge mineral deposits, as it doesn't have the money to do this on its own.

And the government has been making progress. In August five representatives of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) flew into Ulaanbaatar on an inspection mission of crucial significance to the nation’s economy. Experts from the UK, US, Japan, China and Russia were considering whether Mongolia should be removed from the organisations grey list, which was introduced in 2000. Countries on the FATF grey list represent a much higher risk of money laundering and/or terrorism financing, but unlike those on the black list they have formally committed to working with the FATF to develop action plans that will address their deficiencies.

Mongolia was added to the FATF’s grey list in 2013 after which the government initiated reforms and started to meet some of the organisation’s conditions.

However, in 2016 FATF criticised Mongolia for backsliding and urged the government to enforce the laws with a set of recommendations, including enhancing economic transparency, improving oversight on the financial market, and holding those who break laws accountable. To comply with the recommendation, the Mongolian government formed the National Council to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorism in April 2017, which is the basis of the law enforcement agencies that GFR2 appealed to in its case.

The new government, recently elected, has also committed itself to improving the investment climate and in August new Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrain, the finance minister and Chairman of the State Great Khural (parliament) all separately made presentations to FATF officials to put forward their plan of action. Mongolia has borrowed heavily on the world’s bond markets over the last decade, and between 2021 and 2024 much of this will come due. Refinancing costs will be much more affordable if the country can establish a reputation for financial integrity and honesty.

Litmus test for a battered investment image

The case has turned into a litmus test for Mongolia’s investment climate. The country has enormous potential, as it is home to hundreds of billions of dollars worth of mineral deposits, but investment into developing these assets has not gone well.

The biggest project in recent years has been the Oyu Tolgoi mine in the Gobi Desert, another gold/copper deposit, that was agreed with international investors Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto in 2011.

Oyu Tolgoi caused a lot of excitement at the time as the billions of dollars in revenue the mine was supposed to generate were expected to lead to an explosive boom for Mongolia’s economy. Analysts were predicting extraordinary annual percentage growth rates in the 20s and 30s and a step-up in incomes for the population.

The project didn't take off and got bogged down in bitter wrangling with the government, and since then the international partners have changed and Ivanhoe Mines has been replaced by the New York-listed Turquoise Hill Resources.

In July this year the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) started a probe into Rio Tinto and the late-running $6.75bn Oyu Tolgoi underground copper mine which may have breached its listing rules.

In July 2019, Rio announced that the Oyu Tolgoi underground expansion would require an additional $1.2bn-$1.9bn in capital and would be 16 to 30 months late. It pointed to difficult ground conditions that meant that a rethink of the design and development schedule would be necessary. However, according to some investors and a former employee, Rio knew the expansion of the copper mine was in trouble months before the difficulties were disclosed to investors and didn't say anything. But the mine is now in production and reported 36,735 tonnes of copper output in the second quarter of this year and 113,054 oz of gold.

The start of last decade was Mongolia’s day in the sun and other investors got equally excited. New York-based Firebird Management LLC bought 40% of the free float on the Mongolian exchange in anticipation of the mooted economic boom. That investment didn't work out as planned either.

Mongolian’s investment image has been battered by these misfires and made more difficult by the economic blows dealt to the economy by the recent crises. However, the new government is keen to remake the country’s image and with commodity prices flying – especially copper prices that have almost doubled in the last year to hit a record $10,000 per tonne – mining is once again a sexy sector.

Johnson’s case is now stuck at the Prosecutor’s Office. GRF2 is waiting for the case to go to trial, where it can stand to recover it’s money.

“We are simply hoping to get our money back,” says Johnson. “We hope that Mongolia’s justice system is fair, as the investment world looks in on our ruling.”

By Ben Aris in Berlin

China's coke and coking coal futures surged by their daily limit of about 8 percent on Monday after media reports said that the largest coal import channel from Mongolia -- Ganqimaodu Port in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region -- may suspend coal imports from Mongolia for two weeks.

Experts said that the temporary suspension may have little influence on either country.

An anonymous source told the Global Times on Monday that the import suspension appears to be true, and it's being implemented due to the uncontrolled COVID-19 pandemic on the other side of the port.

Since the end of April, 11 Mongolian drivers have tested positive before entering, and one of them went in and out of China eight times, according to the source.

The two major mineral imports from Mongolia via the Ganqimaodu Port are coal and copper powder. "The port's import operations for copper powder and common commodities remain normal, but the import of coal has been suspended," said the source. He didn't reveal when the suspension will end.

Mongolia exported 28.6 million tons of coal in 2020. Traders and end users in China, Mongolia's biggest coal export destination, bought over 95 percent of those exports, according to Chinese metal market information provider Mysteel Global. About 14.55 million tons of coal, 54 percent of the total export volume, was shipped via Ganqimaodu Port, data from the local government showed.

Ganqimaodu Port is China's largest land border port, which even kept cargo moving during the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 with zero imported cases, according to the local government of Urad Middle Banner.

Zhao Yang, co-founder of Chinese coal market information site Meitan Jianghu, told the Global Times on Monday that even though Ganqimaodu Port is the most important coal import channel for China, the two-week suspension may have little influence on the trading and use of coal in either China or Mongolia.

Although China's electricity usage peak period is coming to an end, demand for thermal coal is still intensive. Another anonymous industry insider suggested that coal futures had risen because of low domestic coal output, affected by multiple safety incidents and disrupted logistics systems due to regional heavy rain.

Zhao said that coal imported from Mongolia is mostly used in steel production, and the steam coal used in China for power generation is largely imported from Indonesia and Russia, so the suspension will not affect China's electricity supply.

"The coal import operations of Ganqimaodu Port have been suspended several times amid the global COVID-19 pandemic since the end of 2019," said Zhao.