Assessment of the underground mine in the Asgat was conducted in July 2019 and emergency officers have already managed to open one shaft of the mine after working at the deposit for two months and started the renovation of its excavation braces. At the deposit, technological sampling is being collected by technical employees of Asgatkent LLC with the help from the mining rescue operation unit of Bayan-Ulgii aimag.

The agreement was signed by Minister of Finance Ch.Khurelbaatar and Ambassador of Mongolia to France Philippe Merlin on October 16, 2019. When the draft law goes through the Parliament, a project will kick off to establish an air-rescue unit at the emergency authority and equip it with a French soft loan of EUR 57.9 million. Specifically, three Airbus EC145 helicopters and one training helicopter will be provided and a hangar will be established with a fuel station and cold resistant fuel tank.

Moreover, 42 special purpose vehicles for structure fires will be provided and training courses will be held for pilots, mechanics, aeronautical engineers, and emergency health care providers.

The 30-year loan with a moratorium period of 10 years has an interest rate of 0.08 percent.

The cabinet made the decision on the rescue unit’s establishment at its meeting on August 21.

According to the statistics of Mongolian General Customs Administration, Mongolia has exported 34.8 million tons of coal and the profit reached USD 2.9 billion in the first eleven months of 2019. The coal export increased by 1.4 million tons and profit increased by USD 326.8 million compared with the same period of last year.

Mongolia planned to export 42.0 million tons of coal in 2019 as in the state budget approved by the Parliament.

This time last year, there were 66.5 million animals, representing an increase of 241.2 thousand heads compared to 2017.

In 1970s, there were around 13.3 million sheep and 4.2 million goats. The number of goats in Mongolia has shot up grew from 19.8 percent of total livestock in 1990 to 40.8 percent today – this is due to growing global cashmere demands.

The Asgat silver deposit is located in Nogoon nuur soum, Bayan-Ulgii aimag, bordering the Republic of Altai and the Republic of Tuva of Russia. It has been closed down for 29 years since 1991 when it was last underwent geological exploration and mapping.

According to the Emergency Management Agency, the emergency management officers are working in a cold temperature of -20C to -30C degrees at an altitude of 2780 meters above sea level to remove the area from the snow and ice covers collected over many years and restore the engineering and safety harnesses.

Works launched in November 2019 following the government’s earlier decision to put the Asgat deposit, included in the list of strategically important deposits of Mongolia, into economic circulation. On January 16 of this year, the Government decided to transfer the Asgat silver deposit from ‘Mongolrostsvetmet’ company to the ownership of Erdenes Mongolia LLC, which was charged to start the mining development at the Asgat deposit and settle the issue of investment funding for development.

As reported by the NEMA, emergency management and response personnel of Mongolia managed to save lives of 1658 people and properties worth MNT 59.1 billion after working in a total of 4681 emergency disaster situations nationwide this year.

The side of Republic of Korea will be responsible for developing the feasibility study of the project, and the construction work is to kick off once the Ministry of Energy gives permission. In 2020, a joint waste processing factory is planned to be established with a soft loan from the Government of Poland at the dump, during which the solar power station will serve as great support.

In afternoon trading in New York, copper for delivery in March continued to climb, hitting $2.7620 a pound ($6,070 a tonne), a 20-week high and up 5.2% over four straight sessions of gains.

China consumes half the world’s copper, and trade data released on Sunday showed the country’s imports of unwrought copper increased to the highest since September 2018. Shipment totalled 483,000 tonnes in November, nearly 6% higher than the same month last year.

For the first 11 months of 2019, imports of unwrought copper are still down 8.5% from a year earlier at 4.45 million tonnes. Last year China imported a record 5.3m tonnes of refined copper.

Copper stocks in warehouses in China have been declining since June and were at 245,500 tonnes at the end of last month, the lowest since at least June 2013, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

Imports of copper concentrate continued to rise sharply, up 27% from a year ago to a new record of 2.16m tonnes last month. November cargoes boosted year-to-date volumes to 20.1 million tonnes, a gain of just over 10% compared to the first 11 months of 2018. Concentrate imports are already above the record set in 2018 of 19.7m tonnes.

China put in place a complete ban on certain types of scrap copper imports at the start of 2019 on top of a 25% tariff on imports from the United States, one of its main suppliers, instituted in August.

Smelter expansions have increased demand and competition for copper ore in China, with spot treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) — paid to smelters to process copper concentrate into refined metal — falling sharply this year as a result.