Head of the Fire Department at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), colonel Ts.Nyambayar recently went on a working trip to the countries of France and Belarus.

During the working trip, he visited Desautel Group’s factory based in Niévroz in Lyon, France, and held a meeting with engineers in charge of the manufacturing of vehicles. He also became acquainted with the operations of the factory, its processes, and the vehicles and parts currently being manufactured.

Furthermore, final inspections were carried out for the 21 firetrucks to be supplied to Mongolia in August and September this year. The sides then discussed issues that may arise as the vehicles are operated as well as adapting them more to the weather conditions of Mongolia.

The NEMA official also visited the Belarusian company, ‘Pozhsnab’, based in Borisov, Belarus. He held a meeting with the company’s Chairman of Board of Directors Oleg Deriabin, Deputy Director Sergey Zaharevich, and corresponding experts.

After becoming acquainted with the factory’s operations as well as the parts and equipment manufactured by the company, he exchanged views on cooperation and opportunities to implement a second phase for the project.

Petro Matad Ltd. shares jumped on Wednesday morning after the company said it has been awarded an exploitation license for the Block XX in Mongolia.

The Mongolia-focused oil company said the license runs for 25 years and includes the producing Toson Uul basin.

Petro Matad said it will now resume talks with potential farm-in partners and review funding options for the next stage of development. The development plan will concentrate initially on the reserves around the Heron 1 well, it said.

Shares at 0726 GMT were up 26% at 8.05 pence.

Write to Jaime Llinares Taboada at jaime.llinares@wsj.com; @JaimeLlinaresT

Power outages have been reported in parts of Central Mongolia, including Ulaanbaatar, as of late July 7. The outages are due to damage to the transmission line running between Ulaanbaatar and Erdenet. Cellular networks are disrupted due to the outage. Officials are working to resolve the disruptions.

Temporary commercial and communications disruptions, including cellular services, are possible during power outages. Traffic disruptions and longer driving times may occur during these periods due to malfunctioning traffic signals. Power outages could also result in the temporary unavailability of essential services such as ATMs and petrol stations.

There is an increased security risk as a result of power outages. Electricity disruptions could adversely affect security protocols, including alarm systems and electronic fences; opportunistic criminal activity could increase during electricity outages, particularly after dark.

Advice

Charge all communication and portable electronic devices when possible. Unplug electronic equipment that is not connected to surge protectors. Exercise caution when driving in areas affected by power outages. Ensure that generators are functional if operating in affected areas. Confirm business appointments. Verify that security systems are working, including after power resumes. Follow all security personnel instructions.

In order to increase the participation of foreign investors into domestic market, Mongolian Stock Exchange (MSE) is taking a series of measures to promote the market, introduce international standards and to be included in international category.

Within the framework of this measure, MSE has started working with the Shanghai Stock Exchange, one of the top 5 stock exchanges in the world, and successfully organized an open webinar called ‘Mongolian Capital Market Day’ on June 30, 2021.

During the opening speech, Fu Hao, Vice President of International Business at Shanghai Stock Exchange, said: ‘Mongolia and China are close neighbors with close trade and economic ties, but this event was organized for the first time to bring together stock market organizations and experts. This event will be a historic event to lay the foundation for further cooperation between the two market, and result will be important to introduce the wide range of investment opportunities to the Chinese investors in the Mongolia capital market’.

This event was attended by more than 50 representatives of Shanghai-based investment funds and brokerage companies. Representative of Mongolian Stock Exchange, Hannes Takach, Resident Representative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Mongolia and Dennis Bay, CEO of ‘Rhinos Investment UTsK’ LLC participated and introduced the current state, opportunities and future development of Mongolian economy and capital market.

In addition, representatives of Khan Bank and Trade Development Bank, that intend to conduct IPOs in accordance with the Banking law in next year, participated in the event and introduced their business activities. ‘Investor NBFI’ JSC and "Mandal Asset Management JSC" LLC, which are issuing new securities, introduced their new securities.

The Mongolian Stock Exchange is working with the London Stock Exchange, a strategic partner, to organize the next such event for London-based investors in September 2021.

Source: mse.mn

A huge container ship that blocked the Suez Canal in March - disrupting global trade - is finally leaving the waterway after Egypt signed a compensation deal with its owners and insurers.

Witnesses say the Ever Given weighed anchor shortly after 11:30 local time (09:30 GMT) and headed north towards the Mediterranean escorted by tugs.

The ship has been impounded for three months near the canal city of Ismailia.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed but Egypt had demanded $550m (£397m).

The 193km (120-mile) Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea at the canal's northern end to the Red Sea in the south and provides the shortest sea link between Asia and Europe.

But the vital waterway was blocked when the 400m-long (1,312ft) Ever Given became wedged across it after running aground amid high winds. Global trade was disrupted as hundreds of ships were stuck in the traffic jam.

The container ship was refloated following a six-day salvage operation that involved a flotilla of tug boats and dredging vessels. One person was killed during the operation.

A handout satellite image made available by Maxar Technologies shows the excavation and dredging operations around the Ever Given on 28 March 2021

Since then, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has been seeking compensation from the Ever Given's Japanese owner Shoei Kisen for the cost of the salvage operation, damage to the canal's banks and other losses.

The SCA initially asked for $916m compensation, including $300m for a salvage bonus and $300m for loss of reputation. But UK Club - which insured Shoei Kisen for third-party liabilities - rejected the claim, describing it as "extraordinarily large" and "largely unsupported".

media captionThe stranded container ship is seen finally on the move and no longer blocking the canal

The SCA later lowered its demand to $550m. The final settlement, which has not been revealed, was agreed a few days ago and signed on Wednesday to coincide with the ship's release.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, SCA lawyer Khalid Abubakr said the authority was committed to keeping the terms of the agreement confidential.

In a recorded message broadcast at the event, Yukito Higaki of Imabari shipbuilding, of which Shoei Kisen is a subsidiary, said the company would continue to be "a regular and loyal customer" of the Suez Canal Authority.

The vessel, with an Indian crew, is still loaded with about 18,300 containers. It is due to undergo safety checks at Port Said before sailing to Rotterdam in the Netherlands and then to the UK port of Felixstowe where it will offload its containers, the Wall Street Journal reported.

1,998 new cases of COVID-19 were detected from 9,517 tests processed nationwide in the past 24 hours.

130,452 COVID-19 cases have so far been recorded in the country – 129,611 locally acquired cases, 232 hospital-linked cases, and 561 imported cases. Of the new cases, 1,139 were confirmed in Ulaanbaatar city and 859 in rural areas. In the past 24 hours, 2,582 COVID-19 patients made recovery.

7 people aged between 20 and 80 died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, which brings the country’s COVID-19 death toll to 646.

At the end of May, Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) began producing copper concentrate at its Kamoa-Kakula project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), months ahead of schedule.

On Tuesday the company announced the 3.8 million tonne per year phase 1 concentrator plant is now fully operational and the project received its first blister copper ingot from the local smelter.

To date, more than 10,500 tonnes of concentrate have been delivered to the local smelter. Kamoa-Kakula concentrate is expected to contain approximately 57% copper and exceptionally low levels of impurities – arsenic levels of only 0.01% according to the company.

A total of 338,000 tonnes grading 4.59% copper was mined in June and comprised 295,000 tonnes grading 4.76% copper from the Kakula Mine, including 66,200 tonnes grading 7.71% from the mine’s high-grade centre, and 43,000 tonnes at 3.43% grade from the Kansoko Mine.

As of June 30, 313,000 tonnes of ore grading 4.85% copper had been conveyed to the run-of-mine (ROM) stockpile. The project’s pre-production surface stockpiles now contain approximately 3.4 million tonnes of high and medium-grade ore at an estimated, blended average of 4.78% copper.

Contained copper in the stockpiles at the end of May now total more than 162,000 tonnes and the company said as the plant ramps up to full phase 1 design capacity, and the mine towards phase 2 production capacity of 7.6 million tonnes per annum, the surface stockpiles are expected to continue to build at a reduced rate according to the statement.

Phase 2 is on track for Q3 2022 and Ivanhoe says civil works and structural steel construction ahead of schedule.

Ivanhoe’s guidance for contained copper in concentrate expected to be produced by Kamoa-Kakula for the balance of 2021 is 80,000 to 95,000 tonnes (100% basis).

Kamoa-Kakula is a joint venture between Vancouver-based Ivanhoe (39.6%) and China’s Zijin Mining (39.6%). The DRC government holds a fifth of the mine.

Fitch Ratings-Tokyo/Hong Kong-06 July 2021: Mongolian Mining Corporation's (MMC; B/Stable) rating headroom has tightened due to ongoing disruptions of throughput at the Chinese-Mongolian border as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, says Fitch Ratings. We believe the company has sufficient liquidity and financial flexibility for now. Should border disruptions persist through August, however, the company's credit metrics could weaken to the point where we may take rating action.

Fitch believes MMC's liquidity is adequate despite the current border closure. We estimate readily available cash was above USD30 million at end-1H21 compared with USD20 million at end-1H20. We believe the company has access to additional funding if needed. MMC has considerable operational flexibility, which should allow it to reduce monthly cash burn to a low single-digit US dollar amount by suspending mining and processing operations and scaling back capex to a minimum. We therefore think MMC's liquidity buffer will be sufficient to weather the border disruptions for now.

We expect the disruptions, which continued through most of 2Q21 and prevented border throughput for most of June amid a spike in new Covid-19 cases in Mongolia, to be resolved by end-July 2021 in our base case. This would allow MMC to resume normal operations and coal exports in early August, making up for some of the volume lost in 1H21. We forecast this would lead to 2021 export volume at least 20% below 2020 volume. In this scenario, we expect net FFO leverage to remain above our negative trigger of 3.5x at end-2021, but to improve sufficiently from currently elevated levels to establish a deleveraging path as free cash flow (FCF) turns sustainably positive. This, in conjunction with sufficient liquidity, supports the current ratings.

The macroeconomic environment also remains supportive on the back of robust coal prices amid strong demand for coal from Chinese steel mills in northern China, MMC's key market. We believe this demand is sustainable given the strong economic rebound of the Chinese economy. These positive market fundamentals contrast markedly with the situation in 2016 when MMC missed a coupon payment of about USD27 million and defaulted amid decade-low coking coal prices.

The current disruptions also differ from those in 2020 as preventive measures have since been implemented at border crossing points and vaccination is progressing on both sides of the border, lowering the risk of prolonged border closures. Fitch acknowledges MMC could recover more quickly than projected in our base case as testing of drivers for Covid-19 was completed on 6 July on both sides of the border and border throughput resumed today. We have not factored this potential upside into our base case as we cannot rule out temporary disruptions.

MMC's next coupon payment of USD20.4 million on its 2024 US dollar notes is due on 15 October 2021. We believe MMC should be able meet this obligation, based on our expectation of a return to normal operations in August and rapid ramp-up of exports thereafter. Its liquidity buffer should also provide some flexibility in a downside scenario if disruptions persist beyond our current expectations. However, the border closure has led to diminished ratings headroom. A disruption in exports that is longer than we anticipated would delay the normalisation in net leverage and the FCF recovery on which the current ratings are contingent and lead to rating action. We are therefore monitoring the border situation and MMC's liquidity and cash flow profile closely.

Contact:

Roman Schorr

Director

+81 3 3288 2673

Fitch Ratings Japan Limited

Kojimachi Crystal City East Wing 3rd Floor

4-8 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku

Tokyo, Japan 102-0083

Artifacts and relics discovered from the Queen Consort Dondugdulam’s memorial are currently being kept in the collection of the Institute of Archeology at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences.

After the Queen Consort’s death in 1923, it is said that eight light-colored horses were used to respectfully transport her to the current Sharga Morit Valley, to be cremated in clarified butter.

As the site came to be owned by citizens which resulted in an increased risk of getting damaged due to the construction of houses and fences as well as landscaping, it became necessary to implement measures to protect and preserve the historical artifacts. Thus, the Government implementing agency Culture and Arts Authority and the former Institute of History and Archeology at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences jointly carried out excavation works in 2018 and 2019.

The archeological excavation discovered a square-shaped base of a suvarga (stupa) with a ratio of 280 x 280 cm. Although the suvarga itself had been broken, 16 types of 108 deities that were made by casting in mould, 3 clay elephants, and one decorative ornament with an illustration of a person holding a teapot-shaped container were found during the excavation.

Moreover, various ornaments with traditional patterns were also discovered, which are perceived to be the suvarga’s external ornaments. As the suvarga began to be pieced together, it was revealed that its base had a length of 11 chi or 342.1 cm, and a height of 13 chi or 404.3 cm. As it is evident that the memorial was built for a noble based on all these factors, researchers believe that it is important to take the site under state protection and organize promotional works for tourism.

The Parliament of Mongolia, at its plenary session dated June 29, extended the effective period of the Law on Prevention, Combat, and Reduction of Social and Economic Impacts of the COVID-19 until the end of December 31, 2021.

In order to ensure effective implementation of the law and provide support to households amid the pandemic restrictions, the Bank of Mongolia in cooperation with corresponding organizations and banks decided to make deferrals on the subsidized mortgage loans’ principal and interest repayment again until the end of December 31, 2021.

With a view to alleviate the financial hardship posed by COVID-19 pandemic on businesses and individuals, who have been falling behind their loan dues, the government of Mongolia together with the Bank of Mongolia and commercial banks started fulfilling mortgage payment deferral requests in April 2020, regarding the borrower's request, and to extend the loan agreement term without increasing the amount of the remaining payment.

Upon the decision to make deferrals on loan repayment and their interests, the Bank of Mongolia has made temporary changes to regulations followed by commercial banks on their asset classifications and requirements for their operations, allowing the banks not to change their borrowers’ credit ratings caused by failures on loan repayment.