Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called his Mongolian counterpart N. Enkhtaivan this week to tell him that China wants to swiftly reopen border crossings with Mongolia following weeks of gridlock.

The call suggests China wants better access to Mongolian coal as a ban on Australian imports takes effect.

Mongolia’s coal exports to China rose dramatically in September after China verbally told its producers to stop buying Australian coal, but nosedived again in November after a local outbreak of Covid-19.

Truck drivers shuttling coal over the border crossing at Gashuunsukhait had to take one Covid-19 test on either side, causing huge delays - videos posted to social media showed long lines of trucks and crowds milling around as sources indicated that up to 3000 trucks were stuck.

On November 23 only 211 trucks crossed the border (down from thousands per day months before), and on November 25, less than 20 trucks crossed.

According to Chinese state media, Yi said that “China is ready to discuss [the] expeditious resumption of normal personnel and cargo flows at border crossings with Mongolia while ensuring good prevention and control of COVID-19.”

Wang Yi also said China wants to ‘speed up’ the resumption of work on ‘key projects’. It is unclear what projects he was referring to.

Whilst coal was not explicitly mentioned in Chinese media reports on the phone call, Enkhtaivan released a statement mentioning the ‘sustainable trade in mining products.’

In addition, Wang Yi’s timing is interesting: his phone call to Enkhtaivan came around the same time as the state-owned Global Times confirmed that Chinese power plants are free to import coal from several countries ‘except Australia’.

China unofficially banned Australian coal months ago, but the Global Times article suggests that the ban is now official. The move prompted Australia to refer China to the World Trade Organisation, as it stands to lose up to $A14 billion per year.

The Times’ article quoted Wang Yongzhong, an energy director at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, as saying that China will source coal from Mongolia, Russia and Indonesia as alternatives.

However, there are indications that Indonesia may not be able to make up the shortfall - Mongolia actually became China’s top supplier of coal in October after Indonesian imports fell dramatically (with Russian supplies in second place).

In addition, China’s agreement to buy more coal from Indonesia has been criticised for being ‘light on details’ and ‘a long way for making up for lost volumes from Australia.’

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. The Hu has earned No.3 on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart this week with their new song, ‘Sad But True’. The song is a Mongolian language cover of Metallica’s song, ‘Sad But True’, in their own style.

Previously, the band has also led the World Albums chart by Billboard with their debut album, ‘Gereg’, in September 2019. It was the first time for a Mongolian band to lead the chart with a Mongolian album.

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. Today, five new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Mongolia after testing 10,599 people yesterday, December 16, nationwide. The newly confirmed cases were locally acquired cases in Ulaanbaatar city.

During today’s press briefing on the Ministry of Health, Head of Surveillance Department of the NCCD A.Ambaselmaa informed, “Three out of the infected people, who were under isolation, have been confirmed by 2nd and 3rd repeated test. The other two cases have been patients undergoing inpatient treatment at the Central Hospital of Bayanzurkh District. They first were diagnosed negative by rapid test when they started receiving treatment at the hospital. However, their repeated tests on the 4th and 5th day after their entry to the hospital tested positive. It means they were admitted to the hospital while having in their incubation period. Therefore, contact tracing effort is in full swing.”

No new infections were recorded in Darkhan-Uul, Orkhon, Gobisumber, Selenge and Arkhangai aimags in the last 24 hours.

Today, the total cases of COVID-19 in Mongolia have reached 923, with 384 recoveries. The total locally acquired cases have reached 470; Ulaanbaatar – 145, Selenge - 216, Darkhan-Uul - 45, Orkhon - 25, Gobisumber - 4, Dornogobi -32, and Arkhangai -3.

Rio Tinto expects to achieve first production from the expansion of its giant copper mine in the Gobi Desert by October 2022 but only if it can reach agreement on several outstanding issues with the government of Mongolia and a Canadian subsidiary.

The company said on Wednesday that the budget for the first phase of the underground project at Oyu Tolgoi would come in at $6.75bn and it would start caving operations once it had received outstanding approvals, finalised a new power source and reached agreement on financing.

Its comments drew an angry response from Ulaanbaatar, which said it was surprised at Rio’s multiple references to “government approvals”.

“We are not aware of any approval requirements pending and necessary for the underground mine development,” a government representative said.

She added: “It could also be possible that any pending regulatory

approval is an excuse to blame the government of Mongolia for causing

issues for the project as was in the case in the past 10 years.”

Once complete, Oyu Tolgoi will be the world’s fourth-largest copper mine, initially producing 480,000 tonnes of the metal a year from its existing open pit and underground mine.

It is important for this strategically important project to deliver shareholder value as well as benefits to the government of Mongolia via taxes

Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi, state-owned company that holds the Mongolia government’s stake in the project

However, the project has been plagued by problems. Rio originally said the underground mine would reach first sustainable production in the first quarter of 2021 with a $5.3bn budget.

Tensions with the government, which is seeking to improve the agreements underpinning the mine development, have been mounting. Last month Ulaanbaatar called for an independent review of the cost blowout and overrun.

Rio is also at odds with the Canadian subsidiary through which it has exposure to the mine.

Oyu Tolgoi is 66 per cent owned by Toronto-listed Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ), in which Rio has a 50.8 per cent controlling stake, and 34 per cent by the government.

Ulaanbaatar is funding its share of the underground development costs through loans from Rio. It will not receive any dividends from the project until these debts are paid back.

Oyu Tolgoi is a crucial part of Mongolia’s economy. Not only is it the country’s biggest source of foreign direct investment, it also provides thousands of well-paid jobs.

Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi, the state-owned company that holds the government stake, was also critical of Rio’s management of the project, saying the management team had “delivered negative financial value to its shareholders over the last five years.”

“It is important for this strategically important project located in Mongolia to deliver shareholder value as well as benefits to the government of Mongolia via taxes,” it said.

Rio is in a face-off with TRQ over how to plug a $3bn funding gap. The Anglo-Australian group wants to use a mixture of debt, equity and reprofiling of loans, while TRQ favours a package that does not include a sale of new shares.

TRQ launched arbitration proceedings against Rio in October in an effort to settle the financing dispute. It believes existing agreements allow it to raise supplemental debt.

Rio said on Wednesday that “all shareholders should contribute proportionately and share equitably in the benefit” from the expansion project.

The national livestock census has been underway across the country since the 15 December. According to statistics from 2019, there were a total 70.9 head of livestock animals; this was an increase of 4.5 million animals or 6.8 percent on the previous year.

The new Law on Livestock passed by Mongolian Parliament will come in force from January, 2021. According to the law, herders will pay taxes of up to MNT 2000 per animal dependent upon location.

The livestock population had risen to 90 million by nearly 20 million new born animals last spring. Subsequently, Mongolia culled 20 million animals for local consumption and exports needs. It is estimated that there will be between MNT 70-140 billion from the livestock taxes.

(Reuters) -Rio Tinto named Chief Financial Officer Jakob Stausholm as its next chief executive on Thursday, defying expectations it would pick an external candidate to repair its image after its destruction of sacred Aboriginal rock shelters.

The destruction of the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters, while legal, sparked public and investor uproar that ultimately led to the resignation of incumbent Jean-Sebastien Jacques and two deputies.

Stausholm, who joined Rio as CFO in 2018, is now tasked with the tough job of repairing strained relationships with investors and the Aboriginal community while reforming the mining company to improve oversight.

Rio’s choice of an internal candidate was a surprise as most bankers and investors had expecting the company to choose an outsider to start with a clean slate.

“This decision appears to be further evidence of poor corporate governance and suggests a lack of any credible succession planning,” said Doug McMurdo, chairman of Britain’s Local Authority Pension Fund Forum which represents 82 members with 300 billion pounds ($408 billion) under management.

“It further raises questions about Rio Tinto’s corporate culture over the last few years,” he said, adding that it also showed there had been a lack of consultation by Rio Chairman Simon Thompson with investors.

The board’s handling of the aftermath of the cave blasts has cast a shadow over Thomson’s tenure.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley said Stausholm’s appointment could indicate little change in the overall strategy but that it should minimize the typical disruption period caused by management transitions.

Shares in London, which are at record highs on booming iron ore prices, had climbed 1.8% by 1135 GMT.

Mongolia's first helicopter search and rescue centre will be built by French companies close to the international airport in Ulaanbaatar.

Money for the project came through a concessional loan granted by the French Treasury Department.

Mongolia will receive a fleet of four helicopters (three Airbus EC145s and one Guimbal Cabri), plus a maintenance centre and a training facility.

An Airbus EC145 helicopter. (Image: Thales)An Airbus EC145 helicopter. (Image: Thales)

An Airbus EC145 helicopter. (Image: Thales)

French company Héli-Union is managing the overall project and has signed a contract with Thales (also based in France) to provide training for the EC145 pilots. The two companies reportedly have a long-standing relationship.

French civil security pilots have trained on the same type of Thales systems since 2006.

“Héli-Union and Thales are combining their expertise for this ground-breaking project in support of civil defence in Mongolia," Peter Hitchcock, VP Training & Simulation for Thales, said in a statement.

The project also strengthens Thales’s local presence in North Asia, where the company has won several significant contracts, including the provision of air traffic management solutions for the Civil Aviation Authority of Mongolia.

Thales' subsidiary company Gemalto, which it acquired in 2019, was also involved in the rollout of Mongolia's national eID cards alongside Bodi International under contract to the Ministry of Justice and Internal Affairs.

A Chinese cybercriminal APT group is suspected of hacking into the network of a Mongolian software company and hacking into a chat application used by hundreds of Mongolian government agencies.

According to experts from ESET, the attack took place in June this year. Hackers attacked an application called Able Desktop, developed by local company Able Software. The application is an instant messaging add-on for the company's main product, the HR platform. The platform is used by over 430 government agencies in Mongolia, including the Office of the President, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health, various local law enforcement agencies and authorities.

Due to its widespread use among government officials, ESET said the app has been a target of cyber attacks since at least 2018. In the first attacks, the criminals tried to inject the HyperBro backdoor and the PlugX remote access Trojan into the Able Desktop application and distributed Trojan versions of the application's installer via email.

In June 2020, attackers appeared to have been able to hack into Able's backend and compromised the system that delivers software updates to all of Able's software applications. Hackers have used this system at least twice to distribute the malware-infected Able Desktop chat application through a legitimate update mechanism. To carry out these attacks, the attackers again used the HyperBro backdoor, but replaced PlugX with Tmanager as a component for remote access.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia | THE INDEPENDENT | Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga on Monday urged the public to better conserve water and electricity.

Battulga made the remarks after the Mongolian government on Sunday decided to write off payments for water, heat, electricity and waste for households and organizations (excluding governmental organizations, state and local owned entities, mining companies, wholesalers, retailers, and alcohol or tobacco producers) across the country from Dec. 1 to July 1, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I believe that the government’s decision is an important step in supporting people’s livelihood and activities of organizations,” Battulga said, urging the public not to waste water and electricity.

More than 890,000 households and 123,800 organizations can benefit from the write-off, according to official data.

According to the National Statistics Office, Mongolia, with a population of around 3.3 million, has more than 230,000 herder households with livestock nationwide, with the number of livestock animals surpassing 70 million by the end of2019.

As of Monday, Mongolia has reported 912 COVID-19 cases, including 478 local transmissions.

The Asian country’s nationwide lockdown, imposed on Nov. 12 after its first locally transmitted case was reported, expired on Dec. 1. It has extended the restrictive measures in Ulan Bator and the provinces of Selenge and Arkhangai until Dec. 14.

via Xinhua

New Delhi, (Prensa Latina) The Foreign Minister of India, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and the Minister and Chief Cabinet Secretary of Mongolia, Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, chaired the seventh meeting of the Joint Cooperation Committee, which discussed joint development projects.

Both ministers exchanged views on possible cooperation in the fight against the pandemic, including the acquisition by Mongolia of a vaccine from India in the future, according to information published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The progress of ongoing development partnership projects was reviewed during the meeting, including an oil refinery through an Indian credit line of 1.26 billion dollars.

They also welcomed the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and highlighted that the relationship between both countries has strengthened in recent years.

The two ministers positively evaluated the coordination in the regional and multilateral forums and agreed to continue mutual support in the relevant international meetings.

India welcomed Mongolia's decision to join the International Solar Alliance and both parties agreed that this initiative will promote the use of clean energy in India, Mongolia and the world.