Erdene Resource Development (TSX:ERD) announced on Wednesday a new gold discovery 3.5 km north of its Bayan Khundii project in Mongolia.

According to the company, drilling highlights include hole AAD-58 that returned 45 metres of 5.97 g/t gold beginning at 10 metres down-hole, including 1 metre of 82.5 g/t gold within 8 metres of 27.1 g/t gold.

The Bayan Khundii gold resource includes 521,000 ounces of 3.16 g/t gold measured and indicated and 103,000 ounces of inferred resources at 3.68 g/t gold.

A significant exploration program is planned for Q1 2021, Erdene said in a press release.

“The Dark Horse prospect has been established as the most significant zone of gold mineralization since our discovery of the Bayan Khundii gold deposit,” said Peter Akerley, Erdene’s President and CEO.

The phase II Dark Horse drill program was completed in early December 2020 with an additional 3,085 metres drilled in 14 holes. In total, Erdene drilled 4,660 metres in 25 holes in 2020.

Bayan Khundii deposit is located in southwestern Mongolia, within the Khundii Gold District, approximately 16 kilometres south of the Altan Nar deposit. A Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for the deposit suggests an average annual gold production of 61,000 ounces, and 45,300 ounces of gold and 205,000

ounces of silver.

Midday Wednesday, Erdene’s stock was up 8% on the TSE. The company has a C$124 million market capitalization.

On January 4, 2021, a working meeting between Nikolay Kosov, Chairperson of the IIB Management Board, and Mr. Dulamsurengiin Davaa, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to the Russian Federation, took place in the Bank’s Moscow Branch.

During the meeting, head of IIB spoke about institution’s main activities, presented information on current and prospective projects implemented in Mongolia, and shared strategic plans of IIB in the market.

Nikolay Kosov emphasized that currently the volume of the IIB loan and investment portfolio allocated in the interests of Mongolian projects is approaching EUR 80 million. In total, since the beginning of the Bank's relaunch in 2012, the accumulated volume of IIB's investments in Mongolia has exceeded EUR 242 million.

IIB provides support to such key sectors of the national economy as mining and textile industry, financial sector, metallurgy, agriculture. Support for SMEs, executed in close cooperation with the country's leading financial institutions, is also a strategic priority of IIB's work. In addition, the current pipeline includes a number of new investment initiatives for a total volume of more than EUR 110 million.

The head of the diplomatic mission of Mongolia in the Russian Federation highly appreciated the IIB’s efforts aimed at supporting the country's economy and developing its trade and economic ties with other member states of the Bank. Mr. Davaa noted that the countries government is fully satisfied with the impressive results of the current activities of the institution and intends to continue providing comprehensive assistance in the implementation of its ambitious strategy and additional capitalization programme.

Special attention on the agenda was given to the issues of the Bank's support of initiatives in the field of sustainable development of Mongolia and IIB's charity activities, traditionally aimed at significant environmental initiatives. Noting the importance of projects that already received the financial support of the Bank, in particular, the conservation of rare species of animals and the restoration of peat bogs in the Tuul River basin, carried out in close partnership with the Academy of Sciences of Mongolia, the parties agreed to continue their cooperation in this field.

Also during the meeting, the head of the IIB Moscow Branch, Grigory Gruzinov was awarded the honorary title "The Best Financial Officer" on behalf of the Mongolian Financial Regulation Commission for his significant contribution to the development of the national system of combating money laundering. Within the framework of the Technical Assistance Fund for IIB Member States, the Bank in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance of Slovakia, provided support to the Financial Regulatory Commission of Mongolia in improving the country's anti-money laundering legislation. Mongolia's successes in combating money laundering have been recognized by leading international organizations in this area.

As 2020 meant a slowdown in coal production and use, experts and governments were confident that the industry would pick up again as pandemic restrictions eased.

However, going into 2021, it seems coal is not set to make a comeback. Pre-2020, South and Southeast Asia looked to become the biggest coal-demand region in the world, with several countries investing heavily in extraction and coal plants. But as the implications of Covid-19 took a toll on the industry around the world, the anticipated bright future of coal in Asia is looking increasingly uncertain.

According to a report published by Global Energy Monitor (GEM), large emerging Asian economies Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam cancelled as much as 45GW of coal power during 2020. While coal appeared the obvious answer for short-term energy supply across Asia, the experience of the energy sector in 2020 has made many look towards renewables for the future of energy.

In Vietnam, the draft Power Development Plan outlined plans to cancel seven coal plants and postpone six more until the 2030s, which may never be developed. These account for approximately half of the country’s planned coal development.

In December in Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that no more coal plants would be constructed in the country. The cancellation of coal plants was also announced in The Philippines in November.

Many of these cancellations come in response to a lack of funding in the sector. Public pressure on banks to move away from fossil fuels towards renewables has driven many institutions to withdraw funding from coal production.

For example, in December the Malaysian bank CIMB announced its exit strategy to phase out coal financing, having invested $2.6 billion in coal over the last decade. It was the first major bank in an emerging economy to state such plans.

CIMB aims to support the objectives of the Paris Agreement by phasing out coal financing by 2040. Tim Buckley from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) explained, “This admirable move is expected to be the catalyst for a range of CIMB peers across [South-East Asia] to better align their lending practices with the technology driven energy system disruption that is accelerating as 2020 unfolds.”

Similarly, the AES Corporation announced the sale of its interest in the 1,242 MW Mong Duong 2 coal-fired power plant in Vietnam last week, expected to take place at the end of 2021. AES CEO Andrés Gluski stated, “we look forward to contributing to the country's transition to a more sustainable energy future.” He made clear the company’s intention to invest in renewables moving forward, continuing to invest in energy in Vietnam and other areas of Asia.

While many suggested a ‘renaissance’ of the coal industry throughout 2020, this is looking evermore doubtful. Several big funds are moving away from coal, including Australia’s biggest super fund, AustralianSuper, and Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global; which has a tight cap on its coal investments.

In addition to a reduction in financing from major funders, energy companies are themselves hinting at a movement away from coal. Glenmore, the western world’s biggest coal producer, stated plans for a “managed decline of its coal business” and net-zero emissions by 2050 in its annual investor update. This suggests a gradual but eventual shift away from coal.

Generally, despite optimism for a coal comeback throughout 2020, the realities of 2021 suggest otherwise. Pressure to invest more heavily in renewables and the lack of economic incentive to develop the coal industry further means that the coal era may be coming to an end.

This article was originally published on Oilprice.com

(Reuters) - The Trump administration is considering adding Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd to a blacklist of Chinese companies that are allegedly owned or controlled by the Chinese military, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which said the plan was still under deliberation and may not go through as agencies debate its impact on markets. (on.wsj.com/3nngMYB)

Alibaba and Tencent shares were both down roughly 3% in morning trade on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Alibaba’s U.S.-listed shares closed down just over 5% on the news on Wednesday, but were roughly flat in after hours trading.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications, including Ant Group’s Alipay mobile payment app, escalating tensions with Beijing two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

Alibaba and Tencent did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru, and Andrea Shalal and Alexandra Alper in Washington; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Edwina Gibbs

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. At today’s daily briefing of the Ministry of Health, Head of Surveillance Department of the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) A.Ambaselmaa reported that 41 new cases of COVID-19 detected in Ulaanbaatar city after involving 16377 people in PCR testing.

Of the newly confirmed cases, five are health workers of the NCCD and the rest are those related to other cluster infections in the city. On January 4, nine cases were detected at Achtan Elite private hospital newly and 16 more cases have been confirmed there while five public bus drivers of Tenuun Ognoo company have had positive test results. All the newly detected cases were under isolation, noted Ms.Ambaselmaa.

As of today, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Mongolia reached 1349, with 887 recoveries. In addition, three patients discharged from the hospital in the past 24 hours.

Currently, there are 451 people undergoing treatment.

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. Yesterday, January 5, Minister of Energy N.Tavinbekh visited some thermal power plants in Ulaanbaatar to check the operation, loads, and resources of the power plants during winter peak loads.

The renovation of the turbo generator №3 of TPP IV state-owned company has been completed and is ready for operation. As a result, the TPP IV capacity of generating power will increase by 110 MW.

Emphasizing their high responsibilities during the strict lockdown and the period of winter peak loads, the Minister of Energy assigned the TPP authorities to conduct timely disinfection and follow professional organizations' instructions.

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Khan Bank has successfully concluded long-term financing agreements worth USD 24.8 million with the Covid-19 Emerging & Frontier Markets MSME Support Fund and BlueOrchard Microfinance Fund, investment funds managed by BlueOrchard, a leading Swiss-based impact investment management company, and German-based fund manager Frankfurt School Financial Services GmbH, just before the start of the new year.

The Bank has raised the necessary funds for supporting the long-term financing needs of its micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) clients during these challenging economic times being faced due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Obtaining these funds during such a challenging period for the wider global economy is a testament to the financial strength, stable growth, and good governance of the Bank, as well as the Bank’s long-term cooperation and trust established with these institutes” says in the press release of the Bank.

"BlueOrchard and Frankfurt School Financial Services GmbH have both provided financing to Khan Bank in the past, and mutual cooperation is further strengthened with these new financing agreements."

The metallurgical coal and infrastructure company plans to export up to 4 million tonnes of coking coal to China once its Ovoot Project in Mongolia comes into production.

Aspire Mining Ltd – Aspire Mining’s Mongolian project poised to benefit from China’s rumoured shift away from Australian coal. The company’s share price doubled last week after speculation about a Chinese ban on Australian coal. Aspire Mining Ltd is the only ASX-listed company to have coking coal assets in Mongolia and could be well-placed to benefit from recent speculation that China is shifting away from Australian coal. The company owns the world-class Ovoot Coking Coal Project, and while rumours around the Chinese sentiment focus on thermal coal, the company experienced a sharp share price bump last week as investors anticipated a complete coal ban.

Last Monday, the company sat at around 7.2 cents per share and after Chinese State Media alluded to restrictions on Australian coal and a refocus to prioritise imports from Mongolia, Russia and Indonesia, the share price doubled before levelling out at around 8.6 cents. China recently introduced tariffs on Australian goods including wine, barley and beef and the unofficial coal ban has only increased tensions between the two countries.

Coal market in Mongolia

Mongolian coking coal export volumes to China have been recovering from a border shutdown between the two countries earlier in the year. For the six months ended June 2020, China imported 7.2 million tonnes of coking coal from Mongolia (a 56% decline from the prior year) while imports from Australia rose 65% year-on-year to 24 million tonnes. However, for the balance of the second half of the year Mongolian coking coal exports are expected to revert to more normalised levels while Australian exports to China slow. In September 2020 Mongolia exported 3.9 million tonnes to China, which represented 58% of China’s coking coal exports. In contrast, Australia exported just 2 million tonnes to China that month.

The first news of curtailments to Australian coal imports was reported in October, placing Aspire in the perfect position to benefit from any increase in Mongolian exports going forward.

Ovoot Project development

The company is targeting early production of washed coking coal from a first-stage development of the Ovoot Project, known as the Ovoot Early Development Plan (OEDP). The start of development is linked to the completion of the Definitive Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA), which has been impacted with access the site to commence the ground activities halted by the deferral of local community engagement meetings due to COVID-19 control measures. The OEDP and pre-feasibility study is focused on a truck and rail operation to deliver up to 4 million tonnes per annum to end markets in China and Russia.

September trial shipment

During the September quarter, a trial shipment of 3,300 tonnes of coking coal was moved by rail from an existing mine in Mongolia to the city of Ulanqab in China, which after beneficiation will be railed further to Tangshan and the Port of Caofeidian. This is an important target market for Ovoot coking coal as the company plans to truck coking coal from the mine site to access rail at the city of Erdenet.

Strong financial outlook

At the end of the September quarter, the company was fully cashed up, with a cash balance of A$38.5 million to fund the Ovoot Project development and no debt. This strong financial outlook is partially due to a $33.5 million placement in September 2019, which saw major shareholder Tserenpuntsag Tserendamba increase his holding to 51% and strategically reposition Aspire as a Mongolian led company. Notably, the placement price was 2.1 cents per share, and with a share consolidation of 10 to 1 in December 19– makes for a placement price the equivalent of 21 cents today which is substantially higher than the current share price.

Funding commitments through to production

In addition, financial support is secure with Tserenpuntsag supplying a letter of intent around provision of a corporate guarantee for up to $100 million to support future project financing for the OEDP and pro-rata equity contributions to maintain a 51% shareholding in Aspire alongside all shareholders to fund Ovoot into production. The company is confident that the development of the Ovoot Coking Coal Project will leave Aspire well placed to take advantage of any shift from China away from Australian coal.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications, including Ant Group’s Alipay, the White House said, escalating tensions with Beijing before President-elect Joe Biden takes office this month.

Department with defining which transactions will be banned under the directive and targets Tencent Holdings Ltd’s QQ Wallet and WeChat Pay as well.

The move is aimed at curbing the threat to Americans posed by Chinese software applications, which have large user bases and access to sensitive data, a senior official told Reuters.

A U.S. Tencent spokeswoman did not immediately comment.

The order signed by Trump also names CamScanner, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate and WPS Office and says “the United States must take aggressive action against those who develop or control Chinese connected software applications to protect our national security.”

A U.S. official told Reuters that even though the order gave the Commerce Department 45 days to act the department plans to act before Jan. 20 when Trump leaves office to identify prohibited transactions.

Trump’s order says “by accessing personal electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers, Chinese connected software applications can access and capture vast swaths of information from users, including sensitive personally identifiable information and private information.”

It added the data collection “would permit China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors, and build dossiers of personal information.”

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another official said the order mirrors earlier Trump executive orders signed in August directing Commerce to block some transactions with WeChat and Chinese-owned Tiktok seeking to bar some transactions that have been blocked by U.S. courts.

Any new transactions prohibited by the Trump administration are likely to face similar court challenges as the Commerce Department did when it sought to block transactions with WeChat and TikTok. The Commerce orders would have effectively banned the Chinese app’s use in the United States and barred Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s app stores from offering them for download for new users.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement he supports Trump’s “commitment to protecting the privacy and security of Americans from threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.”

The latest action has been under debate within the administration for an extended period. Many administration officials are eager to cement the hardline U.S. position with China on a number of fronts before Trump leaves office.

Last month, the Commerce Department added dozens of Chinese companies, including the country’s top chipmaker SMIC and Chinese drone manufacturer SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd, to a trade blacklist.

Also last month the administration published a list of Chinese and Russian companies with alleged military ties that restrict them from buying a range of U.S. goods and technology.

In November, the administration put on hold an effort to blacklist Ant Group, the Chinese financial technology company affiliated with e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Reporting by Alexandra Alper and David Shepardson in WashingtonEditing by Leslie Adler, Matthew Lewis and David Gregorio

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

On December 30, 2020, the EU and China agreed to a landmark investment treaty to boost trade and investment between the two largest markets in the world after more than 13 years of hard negotiations. President Xi Jinping said that the deal would bring a “brighter future” in cooperation between China and European countries.

The EU-China deal could unlock Eurasian landmass connecting Beijing with Brussels through an economic corridor offered by Mongolia.

Although the first phase of this investment deal focuses on financial services and telecommunications the next level of EU-China treaty can cover transport and infrastructure issues.

Mongolia as an economic corridor and stabilizing factor between Russia and China

As tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated, Russia and China looked into closer ties and started to work together on a multipolar system. Western economic sanctions on Russia prompted two countries to work even closer. And here comes how Mongolia can play its geostrategic position.

China's "Silk Road" program, now known as "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI) around the world encompassed Mongolia and around 30 projects were proposed in the beginning.

By 2018, Mongolia refined its proposal into three components backed by studies of Mongolian researchers. Eastern provinces of Mongolia would focus on animal products and tourism as part of BRI. Central provinces would connect to the Chinese infrastructure and western provinces would develop tourism and cross-border trade.

Today Russia is doing a feasibility study to build a gas pipeline through Mongolia to the southern neighbor, which could generate $1 billion to Mongolia in transit fees. The construction of the highway connecting three countries could also benefit Mongolia’s economy tremendously.

Obviously, Mongolia is a small country compared to its two big neighbors. But it has become apparent to both countries that their cooperation would be meaningless if they don’t get active participation from Mongolia.

In 2014, President Elbegdorj initiated a trilateral summit in Dushanbe among three presidents, which has become an annual summit. Mongolia has had a strategic partnership with China since 2014 and the same level of relations with Russia since 2016, which was upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2019.

Millennium Railway of Stability and Prosperity

Jack Weatherford wrote at length about the Pax Mongolica, which had a stabilizing effect on the Eurasian social, cultural, and economic life of people living in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Pax Mongolica helped to grow free trade and communications between Europe and China and Central Asia.

Similarly, I have proposed that a high-speed railway connecting Chinese northeastern coastal areas with Xinjiang, Central Asia, Russia and ultimately Europe through Mongolia could have a long lasting effect on trade, economic and cultural prosperity in the same way as Pax Mongolica.

The high-speed railway through Mongolian territory would be around 4,000 km. I call it “the Millennium Railway” that brings stability and prosperity to the region connecting Europe with Beijing through a hard infrastructure stretching 7,000-8,000km.

Its construction will be a mega project that can cover 3,700 km from eastern Mongolia to the western provinces at a speed of 340-400 km per hour.

It would be possible for a person in Dornod province to travel to Khovd within a day by not taking a plane at the cost of MNT 500k and saving 30-40% on a high-speed train. On top of that, connecting northeastern China with Uighurs could integrate the region into more developed and coastal areas of China.

Funding Millennium railway

People ask me how this mega project will be funded. According to the World Bank, it costs from $17m- $21m to construct one km of high-speed rail in China. Obviously, building a horizontal high-speed railway across Mongolia running from Harbin through Altai mountains to Xinjiang would require colossal investment and years of construction work.

But I would like to note that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has cash in hand and is well-positioned to look into financing megaprojects with long-term vision. Beijing has been expanding its high-speed railway network at phenomenal speed.

Also, Russia would need to have a stake in the project as it will be a joint Russian-Mongolian-Chinese vertical railway. Russia is already building the Moscow-Kazan high-speed 772km railway, to be completed by 2023, with an ambition to connect Moscow with Beijing in the future.

I can’t stress enough that China is really interested in expanding its BRI through various "economic corridors" connecting Beijing with Brussels. Mongolia geographically is the closest route for Beijing to reach the Western markets. Cross-country railway makes sense to Chinese, which was mentioned by my Chinese contacts in private many times.

I have also presented my idea to Mongolian key-decision makers, including the secretary of the National Security Council, members of the government, and the state-owned Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi coal miner (which is financing another vertical railway for commodity transports). They all took great interest in the Millennium high-speed railway concept as well.

The perils of the Chinese debt trap

Mongolia has a high debt level - close to 70% of GDP. The government is also massively spending on emergencies for its citizens and small businesses to relieve economic hardships due to Covid-19.

Getting more Chinese debt for building the Millennium high-speed railway could make Mongolia unable to serve its debt and endanger it into default. It is widely known that the Chinese have relatively high rates for its infrastructure loans (over 6%) on top of the fact that Chinese EximBank does not accept debt relief if a country can’t service its debt payments.

If Mongolia can’t repay China could pressure Ulaanbaatar to provide preferred access to coal (Tavan Tolgoi) and copper (Oyu Tolgoi, Erdenet) assets or to ask for support on Beijing’s policy over Inner Mongolia and Dalai Lama.

Therefore, Mongolia needs to manage the financing issues carefully so that national interests are not endangered. At the same, it should be noted that the Chinese decision-making process is not monolithic as it may seem to be. There are multiple competing interests by the provincial administrations, central government and party apparatus in Beijing, state-owned entities, and banks in financing and constructing large scale railway construction along with the BRI network. Understanding and leveraging in a smart way these relationships and interests is key in advancing high-speed railway projects across Mongolia.

In the end, I would like to bring here what Chinese Ambassador Chai Wenrui told me following President Battulga’s visit to Beijing earlier this year. President Xi Jinping was thrilled about President Battulga’s donation of 30,000 sheep for combatting the Covid pandemic.

According to the Ambassador, Xi Jinping thanked President Battulga almost 30 times while quoting Chinese word of wisdom: “If you have received a drop of beneficence from other people, you should return to them a fountain of beneficence”, with credit to Confucious.

China is the second-largest fast-growing economy in the world. Mongolia has the best relations with China today, which gives a great opportunity to leverage the Belt and Road Initiative and connect the rest of the world with China through such projects as the Millennium High-Speed Railway.

References:

Research of Mongolian scientists on “Mongolia-Russia-China economic corridor”, Ulaanbaatar, 2018

Pax Mongolica magazine, issue 2, UB, 2017

Professor Baysakh Jamsran is a Sc.D. and a former Director at the Institute of International Affairs of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. He authored numerous academic books on Mongolian foreign policy and international relations and lectured Mongolian diplomats at the School of Foreign Service, the National University of Mongolia.