Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia has set June 9 as the date for its next presidential election, the parliament's press office announced Wednesday in a statement.

The resolution to set June 9, 2021 as the election date was approved by the country's parliament, or the State Great Khural, on Wednesday, the statement said. Enditem

Mongolian National Olympic Committee (MNOC) President Naidan Tuvshinbayar provided an update on the country’s planning for upcoming Olympic Games to President Khaltmaagiin Battulga.

Tuvshinbayar attended a meeting with Mongolia’s head of state at the Presidential Palace.

The meeting saw the MNOC President outline the status of Mongolia’s planning for the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Mongolia currently have 11 qualified athletes for the Games in Japan’s capital.

Athletes have qualified in archery, boxing, shooting, swimming and wrestling to date.

Mongolia’s women’s 3x3 basketball team has also qualified for Tokyo 2020, where the discipline is set to make its Olympic debut.

Tuvshinbayar also presented an update on Mongolia’s plans for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Mongolian President Battulga reportedly vowed to ensure strong support to athletes and coaches through training opportunities, which would allow more Olympic quotas to be achieved.

Battulga is the current President of the Mongolian Judo Federation and was crowned world sambo champion in 1982.

Tuvshinbayar, a Beijing 2008 Olympic judo champion was joined by International Olympic Committee member Battushig Batbold and Enkhbatyn Badar-Uugan, an Olympic boxing gold medallist at Beijing 2008.

Mongolia has earned two gold, 10 silver and 14 bronze medals at the Olympic Games since debuting at Tokyo 1964.

Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Nearly two-thirds of COVID-19 patients in Mongolia have now recovered, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Wednesday.

Thirty-nine more COVID-19 patients recovered and were discharged from hospitals in Mongolia's capital Ulan Bator, taking the total recoveries to 1,033, Amarjargal Ambaselmaa, head of the surveillance department of the NCCD, said during a daily press conference.

Meanwhile, 32 new cases were detected in Ulan Bator in the last 24 hours after 13,318 tests for the novel coronavirus had been conducted across the country, raising the tally to 1,568, said Ambaselmaa.

The Asian country has recorded two COVID-19-related deaths since it confirmed its first case of COVID-19 in March. Enditem

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. We interviewed D.Bayarkhuu, professor of international relations to share his views on the current state and future tendency on Mongolia’s foreign relations, specifically its relations with the neighboring countries and the U.S, in connection with the presidential inauguration of Joe Biden in a few days.

-How do you evaluate Mongolia's foreign policy in 2020, and how do you envision foreign policy trends for this year?

Although the world has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and countries narrowed their foreign relations, Mongolia has continued to pursue its multi-based, peace-loving and active foreign policy. It has also shown during the pandemic that foreign relations do not stop in the online world. Foreign relations activities, such as international conferences, bilateral and multilateral consultations, etc. are being organized virtually. 2020 was a year full of major events in Mongolian politics. For instance, the parliamentary election was held and the cabinet was newly formed, which have not made change or adjustments to the foreign policy of our country. There were neither halts nor hinders in Mongolia’s foreign relations. Therefore, I personally find that the foreign policy and relations were realized effectively in 2020.

As for 2021, the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic will continue. Even though the foreign relations will be limited in certain extent due to the new challenges arose as a result of the pandemic, I am optimistic that it will not be slowed down. The activities such as diplomatic visits, foreign cooperation and foreign trade will continue but in limited conditions.

-Currently, it seems as if the period can be divided into three categories: pre-COVID, during COVID, and post-COVID. How will the continued uncertainty, caused by the pandemic, change Mongolia?

According to foreign researchers, this pandemic has a tendency to be with us for another 3-4 years. It means that the restrictions and lockdowns will be imposed constantly and will have impacts on the development and foreign relations of our country. However, we need to look ahead and fulfil the goals without compromising.

Our two neighbors, the region, as well as our third neighbors and the world community, are all pursuing policies in line with the current situation. It is considered to be the greatest challenge facing mankind since World War II. To that extent, our external environment will change. It would be right for us to be ready for it, to adapt quickly to the new situation, and to try to turn it in our favor.

-How do you see the relations between our two neighbors - China and Russia? How do the relations of these great powers affect Mongolia?

Relations between our two neighboring countries are at their best. The political relations of them have been strengthened with full confidence as well as trade and economic relations and cooperation in other sectors have developed rapidly. To that extent, a beneficial opportunity has been opened up for our country. A favorable political condition has been created for the establishment of the economic corridors and further development of economic cooperation between the three countries. Now it is important to realize it and work together for mutual benefits. Unfortunately, the pandemic has affected negatively to make progress on this matter. Preparing our economy for the economic corridor cooperation should be intensified.

-How do the relations of the two neighbors with the United States affect Mongolia?

Mongolia pursues the third neighbor policy that builds relations with countries other than our neighbors. We see some conflicts in the relations of our two neighbors with the U.S. and Mongolia maintains its ‘neutral’ status. There is no denying the possibilities that the two neighbors have concerns that Mongolia-U.S. relations could be detrimental to them, or that Mongolia could be used in U.S. policy against them. In contrast, we should also emphasize the fact that our neighbors have trusted and respected our multi-based and peace-loving foreign policy. Not taking sides is the foreign policy that Mongolia has pursued for a long time.

Joe Biden will soon be sworn in as the President of the United States. How will Mongolia-U.S relations change after this event? Especially in terms of economic cooperation.

It is too early to tell. The U.S foreign policy is likely to continue without deviating from its basic principles. I am confident that Mongolian-U.S. relations will make progress. The resolution reaffirming the strategic partnership between the United States and Mongolia was adopted by the House of Representatives of the U.S. congress in the fall of 2020. Moreover, the process of the discussing the draft law on Third Neighbor Trade Act submitted to the U.S. Congress is likely to be completed soon. Therefore, it can be considered as a new beginning of economic cooperation between the two countries.

Let's get back to Mongolia-China relations. It is believed that the relations between the two countries during the COVID-19 period, especially the initiative of the President of Mongolia, contributed to the development of mutual understanding between the citizens of the two countries. What’s your comment on this?

First of all, I would like to emphasize the fact that our president Kh.Battulga became the first foreign head of state to pay an official visit to China since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. During his visit, President Kh.Battulga touched upon the donation campaign titled ‘Emotional Support to Eternal Neighbor’ that was launched by the Government of Mongolia, the voluntary donations made by the Mongolian people and entities to the Chinese side, and the donation of 30 thousand sheep by the people of Mongolia within the scope of the visit, saying that these contributions will be measured in the depth of its significance in bilateral ties, rather than in their size. It is also noteworthy that many people were making comments to thank to Mongolia, and Chinese televisions highlighted this as a truly wonderful event.

-Most of the world's economic growth slowed down due to the pandemic. According to the recent study, only China’s economy has shown a normal growth. As for Mongolia, all economic indicators have shown a decrease. What should be done to increase benefits of economic cooperation with China, this neighbor of ours?

Of course, the economic growth decreases more or less since it is a global pandemic. In fact, I am critical of the fact that we have underutilized China's enormous potential (infinitely large market, buyers, diversified and fast-paced economy). Mongolia exports only raw coal, gold, copper, leather, cashmere, etc. to China.

We lack processing plants that produces value-added products using raw materials from surface and underground resources with advanced technology. Having these types of processing plants will allow Mongolia’s export products to be expensive.

In his speech in 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping used a slogan "China does not want to develop alone, but wants to develop together with its neighbors”. Therefore, whether the economic cooperation between the two countries will be beneficial for Mongolia depends only on Mongolians.

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Mongolia is ranked 101st out of 138 countries, considered for annual Global Firepower (GFP) review. Mongolia holds PowerIndex score of 2.4265.

USA has been named as the country with the highest military power, being followed by Russia and China.

The finalized Global Firepower ranking utilizes over 50 individual factors to determine a given nation's PowerIndex score with categories ranging from military might and financials to logistical capability and geography.

Global FirePower

Despite the current issues regarding the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine and mining project between the Mongolian Government and Rio Tinto, which manages the operation, the mine continues to run very successfully both in terms of current open pit production and the ongoing underground project expansion, despite COVID-19 challenges. Oyu Tolgoi LLC is jointly owned by the government of Mongolia, which has 34% ownership, and Turquoise Hill Resources, which owns 66%. Rio Tinto owns 50.8% of Turquoise Hill Resources and manages the operation on behalf of the owners.

As an example in the concentrator, the main annual scheduled shutdown finished on January 1, and was completed by 100% Mongolian staff without any safety issues. In all, 447 people completed 1,270 tasks for a 12 day total of 33,400 man hours. The project has deployed a number of mitigations that include extended on-site rosters, securing commitments from critical vendors to remain on site for extended periods and layered screening of personnel. Oyu Tolgoi LLC recently stated: “All of Oyu Tolgoi’s achievements are the result of the hard work and dedication of our employees. We wouldn’t be able to build a mine that can compete with the best in the world without the young people who are carrying the giant construction on their backs in difficult conditions.”

Rio Tinto is also deploying equpiment in the wider country to help combat the pandemic. On January 16, the first batch of PCR equipment arrived in Ulaanbaatar, as part of 4 PCR labs funded by a $602,000 voluntary commitment from Rio Tinto.

In its Q4 2020 operations review, Rio Tinto said mined copper production from the open pit was 2% higher than in 2019, reflective of the anticipated move to higher grade areas of the open pit, primarily due to accelerated mine development and production phasing. In the fourth quarter, pit phasing delivered higher gold production (+139%) compared to the prior quarter. Access to higher copper and gold grades is expected to continue throughout 2021. “We maintained shipments across the Chinese border despite COVID-19 measures in Mongolia. We continue to work closely with authorities to manage the risk of supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19.”

On to underground mine progress, and Rio Tinto says overall underground lateral development has now reached 53,000 equivalent metres (eqm), with development for first drawbell substantially complete. The project has now exceeded one million tonnes of material moved through Shaft 2 since commissioning and scheduled annual maintenance of the shaft was successfully completed in October 2020 using remote technology.

Shaft 4 is now out of care and maintenance and the focus is on completing all construction and commissioning activities for load testing and verification, and for sinking to commence in early 2021. Shaft 3 remains on care and maintenance, with some minor construction.

On 16 December, Rio Tinto confirmed the definitive estimate of cost and schedule for Panel 0 with sustainable production expected to commence in October 2022 and development capital of $6.75 billion, in line with previously announced ranges. These estimates include the known impacts of COVID-19. At peak production, Oyu Tolgoi is expected to operate in the first quartile of the copper cash cost curve and by 2030 is expected to be the fourth largest copper mine in the world. It is expected to produce 480,000 t of copper per year on average, from 2028 to 2036, from the open pit and underground. The underground Ore Reserve has an average copper grade of 1.52%, which is more than three times higher than the open pit Ore Reserve, and contains 0.31 grammes of gold per tonne.

Back to the outstanding high level issues, on 4 January 2021, the Government of Mongolia advised Rio Tinto that they were dissatisfied with the results of the definitive estimate and the funding implications for the sharing of economic benefits between the shareholders of Oyu Tolgoi. Rio Tinto states: “The Government has also stressed the importance of achieving a comprehensive solution which addresses the social issues of importance to Mongolia, such as water usage and the corporate tax payments which have been referred to International Arbitration. We have been engaging with the Government and Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ) to address these recent challenges within the scope of Parliament Resolution 92, and remain open to improving the Underground Development and Financing Plan (UDP) to deliver even greater benefits from Oyu Tolgoi to all stakeholders.”

Rio Tinto added that additional milestones need to be met in order to ensure that the project can commence caving operations in 2021, including: outstanding government approvals – including registering the updated Resources and Reserves submitted in February 2020 and accepting the updated feasibility study (OTFS20) completed in July 2020 in accordance with the 2009 Investment Agreement and Mongolian regulation; funding as agreed with TRQ in the MOU in September 2020; and, achieving the power milestones agreed with the Government of Mongolia in June 2020. “We continue to work closely with our partners, the Government of Mongolia and TRQ in the coming months to finalise these milestones.”

The head of Europe's aviation safety agency, EASA, has said Boeing's 737 Max plane will get final clearance to resume flying in Europe next week.

The agency suspended all flights of the plane in March 2019, after two fatal crashes that have been attributed to flawed flight control software.

A total of 346 people died in the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

The modified plane has already been cleared for the resumption of flights in the US and Brazil.

EASA executive director Patrick Ky said a separate certification of the Max-200 variant was likely to follow in "coming weeks", allowing flights to resume before summer.

The plane's first accident occurred in October 2018, when a Lion Air jet came down in the sea off Indonesia.

The second involved an Ethiopian Airlines version that crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, just four months later.

Both have been attributed to flight control software that became active at the wrong time and prompted the aircraft to go into a catastrophic dive.

Since the Ethiopian crash, EASA has been carrying out a root-and-branch review of the 737 Max's design, independently from a similar process undertaken by the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

In order to return to service, existing planes will now have to be equipped with new computer software, as well as undergoing changes to their wiring and cockpit instrumentation.

Pilots will need to undergo mandatory training, while each plane will have to undergo a test flight to ensure the changes have been carried out correctly.

US regulators have set out similar conditions.

New Delhi: The Modi government Monday decided to export Covid-19 vaccines to its neighbouring countries free-of-cost as a “goodwill” gesture, ThePrint has learnt.

The two vaccines approved in India on 3 January are Covishield and Covaxin. While Covishield is Oxford-AstraZeneca’s vaccine manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), Covaxin is manufactured by Bharat Biotech, and co-developed with the Indian Council of Medical Research.

On Monday, officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers (parent ministry of the Department of Pharmaceuticals) met the representatives of Bharat Biotech and SII to discuss the export plan.

The government has decided to send the first tranche to help the countries “meet their immediate requirements”, official sources told ThePrint.

“As a goodwill gesture, the government is planning to send Covaxin to Mongolia, Oman, Myanmar, Philippines, Bahrain, Maldives and Mauritius,” said a senior official, who was part of the meeting.

“Covishield will be sent to Bhutan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Seychelles,” the official added.

The officials also discussed the availability of vaccines for domestic consumption after exports.

“We have decided that till now, half of the approved doses from Central Drugs Laboratory can be exported. Every country will only be given as per the requirement they have cited. Around 5 crore are available in stock with India of which 2.5 crore can be exported,” he said.

The government will procure the vaccines for export through the government-run pharmaceutical company, HLL Lifecare Limited. It had exported hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), last year through the same company.

ThePrint reached Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya’s office through text and calls for an official comment on the matter, but there was no response till the time of publishing this report.

Dispatches to be done shortly

The dispatches will be done to all the neighbours, except Pakistan, in the coming days and weeks, said a second official, without revealing the exact timeline.

“Pakistan will not be given the vaccines since they did not ask for it from the Indian government,” he added.

According to both officials, India will adopt the same model it had adopted while exporting HCQ.

“The government will follow the same model as it was done during the exports of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) at the height of the pandemic,” the official said, adding that the first requirements of exports to least developed countries will be free-of-cost, following which the subsequent shipments will be done on commercial terms.

“Countries that can afford the vaccines will not be given free-of-cost,” the second official said.

Rio Tinto's threat to abort the start of underground mining at the $US6.5 billion ($8.4 billion) Oyu Tolgoi project unless concessions are granted by the Mongolian government is neither appropriate nor necessary, according to the Rio subsidiary in charge of the project.

Turquoise Hill Resources' objection to Rio's brinkmanship over the underground expansion of Mongolia's Oyu Tolgoi mine came as new geological problems were revealed at the existing open pit that will hamper copper and gold production in the next two years.

Turquoise Hill is 50.79 per cent owned by Rio, but said it did not agree with its majority shareholder's demand for the Mongolian government to approve a number of geological, financial, engineering and power supply issues before a major mining decision is made in June.

The June decision focuses on the commencement of an "undercut" in the underground mine, which will trigger the controlled collapse of sections of rock under the caving technique adopted by Rio at the mine.

Rio has no ownership stake in the mine, but is the biggest shareholder in Turquoise Hill and has been appointed as the operator of the mine and the arranger of finance.

Turquoise Hill owns 66 per cent of the Mongolian company that owns the mine (Oyu Tolgoi LLC) with the remaining 34 per cent owned by the Mongolian government.

Turquoise Hill made clear on Tuesday morning that neither it nor the Mongolian government believed the outstanding issues identified by Rio warranted a delay to the start of underground mining.

The comments create the extraordinary situation where shareholders owning 100 per cent of the mine are being told by the contractor hired to run the mine that it cannot proceed unless certain terms are met.

The underground expansion of Oyu Tolgoi is already running 22 months late and $US1.45 billion over budget, and any further cost and schedule blowouts are a problem for Turquoise Hill and the Mongolian government, which are both struggling to fund their share of development costs and sorely need the funds injection that will come from the start of underground mining.

Adverse impact

''The criteria supporting the undercut decision, including the non-technical criteria publicly announced by Rio Tinto, have not been agreed to by the shareholders of Oyu Tolgoi LLC,'' said Turquoise Hill in a filing to the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday morning Australian time.

''Turquoise Hill does not agree that all of these additional non-technical criteria are either appropriate or necessary and is engaging with Rio Tinto and Erdenes (the Mongolian government) to address the areas of disagreement, with the objective, which Turquoise Hill believes it shares with Erdenes, of preserving the timeline for project completion.

''If agreement is not reached on the undercut criteria in a timely manner, or if the undercut criteria proposed by Rio Tinto are included and not met, there is a risk that the undercut will not occur as planned.

''Any significant delay to the undercut would have a materially adverse impact on schedule as well as the timing and quantum of underground capital expenditure and would materially adversely impact the timing of expected cash flows from the Oyu Tolgoi underground project, thereby increasing the amount of Turquoise Hill’s incremental funding requirement.''

Tuesday's comments are the second time Turquoise Hill has publicly aligned itself with the Mongolian government rather than its biggest shareholder in the space of seven weeks.

An unlikely alliance was formed between Turquoise Hill and the Mongolian government last month when they voted to establish an independent review of Rio's management of the mine, and the subsequent cost and schedule blowouts.

Relations between Rio and Mongolia have long been fractious, but they appear to have plumbed new depths in recent months, with Mongolia threatening to unilaterally tear-up the 2015 legal agreement that underpins the underground expansion of Oyu Tolgoi unless Rio agreed to better terms for the host government.

Cost blowouts

Rio's threat to delay the start of mining was not the only piece of bad news for Turquoise Hill on Tuesday; the existing open pit mine at Oyu Tolgoi looks set to generate less revenue in the next two years than was previously expected.

Rio altered the sequence of mining in the existing Oyu Tolgoi open pit in late 2019 in a bid to bring forward extraction of higher-grade ore, as part of efforts to mitigate the cashflow problems created by the cost and schedule blowouts on the underground project.

Those sequencing changes saw Rio bring forward the mining of a deeper section of ore called ''Phase 4B'', which contained high gold grades which would bring in solid revenues amid high gold prices.

But Rio, which is the manager and operator of the open pit, informed Turquoise Hill in recent weeks that problems had been encountered at ''4B'' which would hamper output in coming years.

''We have been advised by the manager that recent geotechnical concerns in Phase 4B have required changes to the mine design impacting both 2021 and 2022, resulting in a reduction in metal delivery expectations,'' said Turquoise Hill on Tuesday.

Reduced metal production means Turquoise Hill will likely generate less cashflow in the next two years; a crucial blow for a company which is trying to defer an injection of new funding for as long as possible.

The fact the reduced metal production has been announced by Rio, a shareholder that wants Turquoise Hill to conduct a multi-billion-dollar equity raising, risks fuelling fears about Rio's motives among angry minority shareholders in Turquoise Hill.

Turquoise Hill said it would publish a production target for 2022 in April after further studies were conducted.

As recently as November, Turquoise Hill expected the existing open pit at Oyu Tolgoi to produce between 170,000 and 200,000 tonnes of copper in 2021, with gold production forecast to be between 500,000 and 550,000 ounces.

Turquoise Hill downgraded those targets on Tuesday, saying copper production would be between 160,000 and 180,000 tonnes while gold production would be higher between 500,000 and 550,000 ounces.

The company said it would process some of the "development material" that had been extracted from the underground project alongside open pit material to achieve that goal.

Sustainable first production from the underground mine is expected to be achieved in October 2022.

While that is close to 22 months later than was envisaged when the project was revived in 2015, it is seven years later than was envisaged by Rio when it was drawing up plans for the mine in 2012.

Located in Mongolia's remote South Gobi Desert, the mine could be one of the world's top five copper producers by the end of this decade if all goes to plan, and shapes as Rio's most important growth project.

by: Peter Ker covers resource companies, based in Melbourne.

Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- A total of 10 more locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 were reported across Mongolia in the last 24 hours, taking its national tally to 1,536, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Tuesday.

"We conducted 17,646 tests for COVID-19 yesterday, and 10 of them were positive," Amarjargal Ambaselmaa, head of the NCCD's surveillance department, said during a press conference.

Meanwhile, 28 more patients have recovered from the disease, taking the total number of recoveries in the country to 994.

The Asian country has recorded two COVID-19-related deaths since confirming its first case of COVID-19 in March. Enditem