Bank of Mongolia purchases 15.2 tons of gold in 2019 www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. In 2019, the gold purchase of the Bank of Mongolia (BoM) reached 15.2 tons, which means the amount of gold purchase decreased by 6.7 tons or 30 percent compared with the previous year.

How to facilitate the transition out of coal www.mining.com

Consulting firm GlobalData and the Stockholm Environment Institute joined forces to provide a series of recommendations on how to address the social challenges related to the closure of coal mines.

Australia bushfires might burn for months, Morrison warns www.bbc.com

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned that the devastating bushfires raging in the country might go on for months.

At least 24 people have died since the fires began in September. Air quality in the capital Canberra was this weekend rated the worst in the world.

Mr Morrison announced the creation of a recovery agency to help those who have lost homes and businesses in the fires.

He has faced fierce criticism over the speed of his response to the crisis.

The weekend saw some of the worst days of the crisis so far, with hundreds more properties destroyed. Rural towns and major cities saw red skies, falling ash and smoke that clogged the air.

Conditions eased in Victoria and New South Wales on Sunday after temperatures and wind speeds dropped and some light rain fell. But authorities warned that the danger was far from over.

"We're in uncharted territory," said the New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian. "We can't pretend that this is something that we have experienced before. It's not."

John Steele, 73, who was evacuated with his wife from their rural property north of Eden late on Saturday, told the AFP news agency: "Visibility was down to about 50 metres, if that, and we had lots of debris falling out of the sky and a lot of white ash.

"The sky is still red. We're not out of the woods yet."

Prime Minister Morrison on Saturday announced the largest military call-up in the country's recent history, mobilising up to 3,000 reservists to assist exhausted volunteer firefighters.

Mr Morrison, who cancelled a planned visit to India because of the crisis, faced further condemnation on Sunday, after the head of the NSW Rural Fire Service revealed the service had only learned of the plan to call up reserve troops through the media.

In an indication of the long road ahead, Mr Morrison warned that the fires might burn for many months, and said that the newly-created recovery agency would run for at least two years. The body will help bushfire-hit communities recover, media reports said, through work ranging from rebuilding infrastructure to providing mental health support.

Queen Elizabeth on Sunday said she was "deeply saddened" by the fires, and thanked the emergency services "who put their own lives in danger" to help communities.

Fundraiser nets A$20m in 48 hours
A fundraiser for fire services launched by the Australian comedian Celeste Barber on Friday raised more than A$20 million (£10.6m; $13m) in just 48 hours

"Please help any way you can. This is terrifying," Ms Celeste wrote in a Facebook appeal.

She called the rush of donations "incredible", and said the proceeds would go to NSW Rural Fire Service - a government-funded agency staffed by volunteers - and the Brigades Donations Fund, which channels charitable donations directly to fire brigades.

Members of the comedian's family were evacuated from the town of Eden in New South Wales, where officials told residents to leave immediately and head north if they did not have a bushfire response plan.
A number of celebrities have also donated money to support the firefighting effort in recent days - among them the US singer Pink and Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman, who pledged $500,000. "Our family's support, thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the fires all over Australia," she wrote on Instagram.

News of the donations was praised by Australians on social media, but some lamented that private citizens were raising funds they said should have been put in place by the government.

Nearly 200 fires are still burning across the country, with every state and territory affected. More than 1,200 homes have been destroyed and millions of hectares of land scorched.

Tens of thousands of homes in NSW were left without power and thousands of people have been evacuated from coastal towns over the past week. The town of Cooma suffered a further blow on Saturday night when a large tower carrying millions of litres of water exploded, flooding homes and sweeping away vehicles.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro told ABC News the incident was a "massive disaster".

Japanese authorities vow to tighten immigration rules after Carlos Ghosn's escape www.cnn.com

(CNN Business)Japanese officials on Sunday criticized Carlos Ghosn's escape from the country as "unjust" and vowed to tighten immigration rules in their first public remarks since the former auto executive fled for Lebanon a week ago.

Ghosn left Japan "illegally by unjust methods," said Justice Minister Masako Mori, the country's top judicial official. She said that authorities have no official record of Ghosn's departure from Japan, and that prosecutors are investigating the case.
Mori also said she has ordered the country's immigration department to "further tighten" rules for leaving the country "so that the same situation won't be repeated."
Mori's statement — along with a similar one published Sunday by a Tokyo prosecutor — marked the first time Japanese authorities addressed Ghosn's stunning escape last week. Government offices in the country had been closed all week for the New Year holiday.

Ghosn — the former chairman of Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, and former chairman and CEO of their alliance partner, Renault — had been awaiting trial in Japan on charges of financial wrongdoing. As a condition of his release on bail, Ghosn was required to stay in Japan. But the case was upended after Ghosn revealed that he had fled Japan for Lebanon to escape what he called a "rigged" justice system.
Mori defended the country's justice system on Sunday, adding that it assured "fundamental human rights" and set out to "find out the truth of the case."
She also said that Ghosn's bail has been "canceled," and confirmed that the Japanese government asked Interpol, the international police agency, to issue a "red notice" for Ghosn. Lebanon said last week that it had received that notice, confirming that Ghosn is wanted by police.
Takahiro Saito, Tokyo's deputy chief prosecutor, said in his own statement Sunday that Ghosn "deliberately ignored" Japan's justice proceedings by fleeing the country, even though his bail barred him from overseas travel. Saito added that Ghosn's escape "could be a criminal act."
"Ghosn broke his own promise to attend the court and run away from Japan," Saito said. Both he and Mori called the event "regrettable."
Ghosn was arrested in November 2018 and has since faced a litany of charges, including allegations that he understated his income for years and funneled $5 million of Nissan's money to a car dealership he controlled. He was ousted from his posts at Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors following his arrest in November 2018, and later resigned from Renault. He has denied the charges against him.
Ghosn's Japanese lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, said Saturday that the defense team would resign after contacting Ghosn this week. Hironaka had earlier told reporters that Ghosn's escape was a "complete surprise."
Authorities, meanwhile, have been scrambling to figure out how Ghosn pulled off the escape. Prosecutors in Tokyo raided the home where he had been staying last Thursday. Ghosn has denied reports that his family were involved in helping him flee.
Last week, a Turkish company that charters private jets confirmed that two of its planes were used "illegally" to transport Ghosn without the knowledge of company management. That company, MNG, said it has filed a criminal complaint.
-- Yoko Wakatsuki reported from Tokyo, Akanksha Sharma reported from Hong Kong and Amy Woodyatt wrote from London.

Sales revenue of Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi reaches USD 1 billion www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Sales revenue of Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi JSC reached USD 1 billion or MNT 2.7 trillion in 2019. The company exported 14.3 million tons of coal last year and earned net profit of MNT 1 trillion.

Gold, oil soar, shares slip as U.S. and Iran trade threats www.reuters.com

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A gauge of Asian shares was toppled from an 18-month top on Monday as heightened Middle East tensions sent investors scurrying for the safety of gold, which hit a near seven-year high while oil jumped to four-month peaks.

US announces countrywide ban on flavoured e-cigs www.bbc.com

The US has announced a countrywide ban on some e-cigarette flavours amid concerns about vaping among teens.

Forex reserves in Mongolia reach high record in 2019 www.menafn.com

The central bank of Mongolia said on Thursday that the foreign exchange (forex) reserves in Mongolia have reached a high record in the previous year of 2019.

China drops tariffs on hundreds of Pakistani products as wide-ranging trade agreement takes effect www.rt.com

A newly implemented deal between Beijing and Islamabad will eliminate tariffs on hundreds of products, a move which is expected to provide a billion-dollar boost to bilateral trade.
The Free Trade Agreement (FTA)–II, which started on Wednesday, will waive or ease 75 percent of tariffs imposed by each country, over a period of 15 years. Beijing will immediately drop tariffs on more than 300 Pakistani exports, including textiles and garments, seafood and leather.

China copper outlook brightens with miners likely to shine most www.bloomberg.com

Chinese copper stocks are returning to favor as the outlook for demand brightens, with a late spurt delivering the best annual gain in half a decade for the largest, Jiangxi Copper Co.

What has ailed copper for most of the year largely dissipated last month as the U.S. and China closed in on an interim trade deal that will steady the global economy, and as Chinese data demonstrated that growth in the top producer and consumer of the metal is stabilizing.

The benchmark London price, a barometer for the broader economy because of the metal’s wide usage in construction and power transmission, ended last week with a sixth consecutive gain, its best run in over two years. China’s manufacturing purchasing managers index, meanwhile, showed a second straight month of expansion in December.

Still, recent gains in the stocks may deter some investors, and the winners aren’t clear-cut. The prospects for miners that dig up ore could be healthier than for the smelters refining the metal, which are burdened by overcapacity and weak margins. Many of China’s big copper firms are active in both areas. While the smelting industry has signaled it will cut output this year to rescue treatment fees that have sunk to near seven-year lows, it’s the producers of the raw material that may be best placed to benefit from resurgent demand.

Stocks such as Jiangxi Copper, China’s no. 1 smelter and second-biggest miner, still have room to rally, said Wang Chen, a partner at XuFunds Investment Management Co. in Shanghai. “Copper prices have fallen to near cost and the downsides are limited,” he said. “Easing trade tensions and global monetary loosening are also going to boost demand and prices of the metal.”

Goldman Sachs commodities team is most bullish on copper for 2020, one of a cluster of banks that expects great things from the metal. After barely rising in 2019, Citigroup predicts that Chinese copper consumption will increase 2.6% next year, powered by gains in grid investment and demand from autos.

“The global economy is rebounding amid monetary easing, boosting demand for raw materials including copper,” said Yang Kunhe, an analyst at Pacific Securities Co. “Chinese PMIs are also bottoming out as anti-cyclical measures are working. There is still big room for stimulus. All these will benefit copper demand and prices.”

Yang recommends the mainland listings of miners including Jiangxi Copper, Zijin Mining Group Co. and China Molybdenum Co. He prefers them to pure copper smelters such as Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Co., which are suffering from low profitability because the global supply of raw material can’t keep up with the country’s vastly expanded processing capacity.

Zijin Mining, also a big gold producer, is the most heavily favored by analysts, with 91% surveyed by Bloomberg holding buy ratings. Tongling Nonferrous is at 83% and China Moly at 60%, with Jiangxi Copper bringing up the rear on 47%.

Zijin Mining declined to comment. Spokesmen for Tongling Nonferrous and China Moly said they couldn’t immediately comment. A spokesman for Jiangxi Copper couldn’t be reached for comment.

Jiangxi Copper will also see significant returns from its interest in the Cobre Panama mine, part of its first overseas acquisition announced last month, according to Essence Securities Co. The broker has a buy on the stock, with a six-month target of 18.8 yuan, 11% higher than its end-year close.

Cautionary voices include Xiong Qi, the deputy head of research at Windsor Capital Management Co. in Beijing. “I am not comfortable chasing the rally in cyclical stocks including copper, lithium and cobalt,” he said. “They have surged a lot already and prices may face corrections.”