On June 4, Foreign Ministers held official talks with Minister V.Makei, following a ceremony to lay a wreath at Victory Monument in Minsk. During the official talks, the Ministers expressed their satisfaction with intensifying traditional friendly relations and cooperation between Mongolia and Belarus during recent years and constantly running high-level political talks. They also emphasized an importance of intensifying cooperation in the fields of food, agriculture, light industry, mining, road and transportation and increase exchanges of culture, education and humanitarian sectors in order to enrich bilateral tie with economic content.

Moreover, the dignitaries expressed mutual interest to use thoroughly a potential to cooperate under the Eurasian Economic Union and Mongolia-Russia-China Economic Corridor, alongside the continuation of bilateral collaboration within the framework of the United Nations, OSCE and other international organizations.

As a result, peatlands suffer the same fate. They are also damaged by mining, road construction, and steppe fires. Climate change is making things worse. A weak ecological balance is fracturing. The peatlands are the last fertile pastures in Mongolia. Without disturbance, they absorb the water from the melted snow and the rain that they filter and release into the rivers and lakes.

They prevent soil erosion and maintain the levels of groundwater that sustain crops and forests while avoiding desertification. But the area covered by peat in Mongolia has been reduced by almost half in the last 50 years. This had a dramatic impact on the permafrost: huge frozen lenses left by the ancient glaciations.

When the peat decomposes, the permafrost loses a protective layer that isolates it from the elements and begins to thaw. Currently, Mongolia has about one third less permafrost than just under 50 years ago.

How Mongolia addresses this challenge will be instructive for other countries with peat bogs that are trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to 2008 data compiled by Wetlands International, Mongolia is the seventh largest emitter of CO2 in the world by degrading peatlands.

More than a dozen countries have larger peat areas than Mongolia. According to the organization, global emissions from degraded peatlands are increasing, especially in developing countries.

The fight to save the peatlands in Mongolia will take place in the countryside, as well as in political symposiums and legislatures. The result will shape the future of their pastoralist communities, which, for most of the world, constitute the stereotyped image of the country.

The new Permian coal deposit, now being referred to as BNU South as it is situated about 12km south of the mine’s infrastructure, was uncovered during an exploration program targeting shallow open cut mineable coal within the company’s Mongolian mining licences.

Multi-stage ground geophysics initially defined 5km of Permian target strike for exploration and a phase one drilling program completed 42 polycrystalline diamond (PCD) holes for 6803m.

Reporting to the market today, TerraCom said multiple coal intersections occurred along the 5km of strike, including very thick intersections of up to 122m of total gross coal.

“The large shallow coal intersections in this area are by far the thickest thus far discovered within the company’s licenses in Mongolia,” TerraCom stated.

A phase two exploration drilling program has already begun with the thick intersections being considered a “high priority area”. The program will include both PCD drilling and diamond core drilling.

In addition, TerraCom said work streams have been activated to fast-track the start of mining the BNU South deposit on the assumption that further exploration will confirm the target.

Mining operations
Located in Mongolia’s South Gobi province, the BNU mine produces an estimated 1.5 million tonnes per annum of coal which is then exported to China.

Mining to date has been from the initial three open pits located on the northern side of the Noyon coal basin, although TerraCom has been progressively developing pits along the Noyon basin sub crop.

Given its close proximity to the BNU mine infrastructure, TerraCom believes the BNU South deposit could potentially become part of the BNU operation.

TerraCom also operates the Blair Athol coal mine in Queensland, Australia, which commenced mining operations in August last year and has been forecast to produce 1.9Mt of product in its first full year.

In April, the company completed construction and commissioning of a new train load-out facility, which enabled the cessation of a trucking and is projected to deliver an additional A$20 per tonne improvement in margin.

Showing faith in the company, TerraCom director James Soorley snapped up A$37,000 worth of company shares through an on-market trade last week.

TerraCom shares rose 8.96% to A$0.365 on the BNU South discovery announcement by afternoon trade.

The five-month campaign is aimed at encouraging gold miners and individuals to sell their gold to the central bank and commercial banks, increasing the gold reserves, intensifying training and promotion on the process of gold purchase among the public and introduce relevant laws and regulations, the Bank of Mongolia said in a statement.

The Bank of Mongolia purchased over 3.2 tons of gold from legal entities and individuals in the first four months of this year, which is an increase of 257.6 kg from the same period last year.

The government of Mongolia has carried out a number of measures directed at enriching the treasury fund and improving the legal environment on foreign exchange over past five years. As a result, gold miners submitted 20.01 tons of gold to the central bank in 2017, contributing 800 million dollars to the state budget.

Annual gold production had not surpassed 20 tons since 2005 when it reached its record high at 25 tons.

Net losses amounted to $9.9m, compared to a profit in 2016 of $10.8m.

The company had expected to commence its first drilling operation in six years during 2017.

However, it became evident that the drilling rig contracted for the programme would not achieve the required certification to international standards.

The company therefore took the decision to defer drilling until 2018.

'While disappointing, the this did provide the company with additional time in which to review and revise its financing and operational strategy,' Petro Matad said.

At 8:14am: (LON:MATD) Petro Matad Ltd share price was -0.3p at 11.7p

The ‘Mongolia-Russia Initiative 2018’ event series will be held under the auspices of the President of Mongolia Kh.Battulga. Within the framework of the event, five sectoral meetings including agro-industrial complex, light industry, energy industry, construction and transport are scheduled.

The presentation of civil aviation of Russian aircraft manufacturers - ‘Sukhoi Superjet 100’, ‘MS-21’ and ‘Il-114-300’ planes is also planned. Mongolian airlines including MIAT, Aero Mongolia and Hunnu air will participate in the event.

The ‘Nuclear science and nuclear power technologies’ workshop and a meeting of Mongolian nuclear power engineers with representatives of the Russian state corporation Rosatom are planned.

In the business part of the events, the bilateral and multilateral B2B meetings will take place with participation of over 100 representatives from more than 60 Russian companies and about 300 Mongolian companies working in the agro-industrial sector, food industry, energy, construction, mining and agriculture.

Under the series of events, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry will co-organize the exhibition with the Misheel Group LLC. The agricultural machinery, light and food industry products from the closest regions of Russia will be presented at the exhibition at Sukhbaatar Square.

In addition, a major cultural program is being prepared. The State Folk Dance Ensemble named after Maestro Igor Moiseev is to perform on June 8,9. Mongolian-Russian friendly judo competition will also take place on July 7,8 at the central square of Ulaanbaatar.

B.Misheel

According to the agreement, mine owners will establish a Transport Contract with transport companies under the standards and regulations, within the framework of Mongolian laws and regulations.

Based on the contract, the NATC will put a control and issue a permit to cross the border. Effective regulation was lacked in coal trasportation as the mining companies previously gave authority of transportation matters to the buyers.

Therefore, establishing the cooperation agreement and bringing transportation matters into the attention of the mines will create a possibility to make regulation in compliance with the capacities of the mines and roads. By doing so, it is expected to reduce traffic jam, improve responsibility of transporters, decrease traffic accidents, resolve social issues of drivers and ensure drivers to get health and social services.
M.Unurzul