Balance of payments deficit falls 20 percent month over month www.ubinfo.mn

As of March, balance of payments deficit was USD 87.6 million, which is 20 percent lower compared to the previous month. Current account balance indicates a loss of USD 424 million.

Commercial banks grant MNT 49.5 billion mortgage loans to 495 applicants in March www.ubinfo.mn

According to the data provided by the Bank of Mongolia (BoM), a total of 585 mortgage loan applications were submitted to the bank in March. This is the highest number of applications in the first quarter. As such, 495 citizens were granted a total of MNT 49.5 billion as mortgage loan, of which over 50 percent were financed from commercial banks. Accordingly, the total balance of mortgage loan reached MNT 4.2 trillion.

Spring cultivation commences www.ubinfo.mn

A total of 60 thousand tons of seed is required for spring cultivation of wheat this year. According to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry, 50.8 thousand tons were collected domestically and eight thousand tons were imported. In addition, six business entities, which requested to renovate their seeds at their own expenses, have been granted licenses for importing 2 thousand tons of wheat for producing seeds.

First turbine erected at Sainshand wind farm www.news.mn

The first wind turbine has been successfully erected at the Sainshand Wind Farm. A total of 24 wind turbines will be installed.

Qatar steps in to buy Rosneft stake after China deal collapses www.mining.com

Qatar emerged as a major shareholder in Rosneft PJSC on Friday after a $9 billion deal to sell a stake in Russia’s state-run oil producer to China’s troubled CEFC Energy Co. collapsed.

Qatar Investment Authority stepped in after the sellers — a consortium of QIA itself and mining giant Glencore Plc — told CEFC it wouldn’t proceed with the original deal announced in October. A statement issued by Glencore didn’t explain why they were canceling the sale, but CEFC has been struggling with debt.

The sudden change cements Doha’s links with Moscow at a time when Qatar is facing isolation from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. The Kremlin loses the prospect of China becoming a major shareholder in the country’s largest oil producer, however.

After the new deal, Qatar Investment Authority will own 18.93 percent of Rosneft, making it the third-largest shareholder after the Russian state, which holds 50 percent, and U.K. oil major BP Plc with 19.75 percent.

CEFC, a sprawling conglomerate with big interests in oil and gas, has come under increasing government scrutiny in Beijing amid concern rapid international expansion had stretched the group financially. Chinese media has reported that Ye Jianming, the founder and chairman of the rapidly expanding Chinese company, has been investigated by government authorities.

Under Ye, CEFC has been transformed from an obscure conglomerate focused mainly on the former Soviet Union into a conspicuous player on the world energy stage, mixing with the likes of mining giant Glencore. Starting as a small trading company in 2002, CEFC bought assets including storage, terminals, refineries and oil fields, as well as financial units.

More Oil
Led by Igor Sechin, a former deputy prime minister and a longtime associate of President Vladimir Putin, Rosneft produces more oil than any other publicly traded company in the world, about 4.5 million barrels of crude a day.

Rosneft said in an e-mail that it looked forward to “new mutually beneficial bilateral and international projects with our Qatari partners.”

Rosneft also signed a five-year oil supply agreement with CEFC last year, but that contract remains in force, Rosneft spokesman Mikhail Leontyev said. China will continue to remain a strategic market for Rosneft, the company’s press service added.

The Glencore-QIA consortium agreed to jointly acquire a 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft in December 2016, helping the Russian government to meet a target for privatization proceeds. They then cut a deal to sell most of those shares on to CEFC.

The Glencore-QIA venture will now be dissolved and Glencore will retain a 0.6 percent holding in Rosneft, according to Friday’s statement. Qatar will pay Glencore about 3.7 billion euros ($4.4 billion) for the shares it’s acquiring, but Glencore will use that cash to repay money it borrowed to buy its original stake.

A deal Glencore struck to buy 220,000 barrels a day of crude from Rosneft remains in place.

Is the Golden Era for renewables around the corner? www.rt.com

In the past few years, there has been a lively debate about the increasing role of renewables at the expense of fossil fuels, particularly in power generation.
Some say that renewables are not an existential threat and believe that they might take only a small piece of the pie by 2040, due to high costs and vital government subsidies. On the other hand, others believe that costs are declining fast, and it may take a significant share in power generation, knocking not just coal, but also natural gas off the throne.

The fact remains that things are changing quite fast due to technological advancements. The breakeven cost of various renewable energy sources has come down significantly, and wind and solar energy are leading the charge. Total global cumulative wind power capacity reached 540 gigawatt (GW) at the end of 2017, up from 93 GW in 2007. Meanwhile, solar went up from 100 GW in 2012 to close to 405 GW in 2017, a four-fold increase. Photovoltaic(PV)solar even surpassed nuclear generation capacity (403 GW in 2017).

The role of renewables is only marginal in the total energy mix, but growing fast, and in the next few decades, it is likely to become a tough competitor for oil and gas. Surely, sources that are economically viable, easily accessible and environmentally friendly will sneak their way to the top of podium by 2040.

Renewable Capacity Outperformed

In the past, the high cost of renewable energy generation constrained investments in the sector. However, due to technological advancements, the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) reduction for PV solar and wind energy have boosted the competitiveness of these sources against well-established power generation technologies, such as coal and natural gas. In 2017, the US average LCOE without subsidy for PV without tracking was $54/MWh, with onshore wind at $51/MWh, versus gas-fired generation at $49, coal $66 and nuclear at $174/MWh. The continuous declining trend in costs of renewable energy led to an upsurge in capacity and investments.

In 2017, 260 GW of net power generating capacity was added. The renewable industry invested $280 billion in 2017, adding 150 GW of solar (98 GW) and wind (52 GW); both added 58 percent as compared to 28 percent of gas (38 GW) and coal (35 GW). Large hydro and nuclear respectively added 19 and 11 GW.

Inherent Problem

Despite declining LCOE, the real issue with renewables is what happens when the sun is not shining and wind is not blowing. The intermittent nature of the power flow from either solar or wind remains a problem. Therefore, renewable energy continues to rely on the grid to meet any shortfalls or peak demand.

Tesla installed the world's largest lithium-ion battery in South Australia in December 2017, which would prevent a reoccurrence of a notorious incident that took place in 2016 when the entire state lost power. The significant decline in battery prices and other cost cutting measures will further help the renewable sector to grow independent from government subsidies and without relying on grid support.

Bright Outlook For Renewable

The dominance of fossil fuels which in 2017 made up about 85 percent of the total energy mix seems to be challenged by two contenders: the penetration of electric vehicles and renewable energy sources. These together are supported by a change in mindset of the public which is increasingly concerned about greenhouse gas emissions and the environment in general. The next couple of decades will be challenging for the oil, coal, and natural gas sectors, particularly in the transport and power sectors. Coal is already in decline, and next could be natural gas.

According to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) study, solar and wind will gain a large share of global installed capacity by 2040 as compared to 2016. The share of both will rise immensely from 12 percent in 2016 to 46 percent in 2040 while the role of fossil fuels in power generation is expected to shrink.

Surely we cannot eliminate fossil fuels usage in our daily lives, it will remain an integral part of our life for a long time to come. Yet the golden era of renewables is just around the corner as preference and cost favor renewables over fossil fuels, a development that will improve the quality of life of many segments in society.

EU to assess if Mongolia is eligible for Budget Support www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Officials from the EU institutions visited Ulaanbaatar from 23 to 27 April to assess if Mongolia is eligible for an EU Budget Support Operation. Budget Support involves direct financial transfers to the national budget of the partner country and is basedon policy dialogue, performance assessment and capacity building. This approach respects partner countries' ownership of development policies and reforms, focusing on results for people and sustainable development.

Increasing direct participation by Turquoise Hill management on Oyu Tolgoi matters www.gogo.mn

Turquoise Hill Board of Directors provides update on shareholder correspondence.

Xanadu Mines focused on large new copper-gold discovery in Mongolia www.proactiveinvestors.com.au

Xanadu Mines Ltd (ASX:XAM) has three projects located within two of Mongola’s porphyry copper belts.

Its flagship asset is the 76.5% owned Kharmagtai Copper Project in the South Gobi region of Mongolia where the company is aggressively drilling out a major new copper-gold discovery.

While the exploration focus is rightfully on Kharmagtai, Xanadu also owns the advanced Red Mountain Copper Gold Project and early stage Yellow Mountain Copper Project.

An emerging cluster of porphyry deposits at Kharmagtai
The Kharmagtai project hosts three porphyry deposits within a largely under-explored porphyry copper-gold district.

During April, Xanadu discovered another porphyry centre, Zaraa, with the first hole intersecting 800 metres of mineralisation.

Zaraa, the focus of aggressive exploration, is showing strong early potential to add to the project’s JORC resource at the Stockwork Hill, White Hill and Copper Hill deposits.

As of March 2015, the JORC resource measured 203.4 million tonnes grading 0.34% copper and 0.33 g/t gold for 1.5 million pounds of copper and 2.2 million ounces of gold.
Porphyry copper deposits typically occur in clusters and recent exploration at Kharmagtai has revealed the project could host multiple additional porphyry-style deposits.

The discovery diamond hole KHDDH462 drilled at the Zaraa porphyry was terminated in mineralisation at 1,386.4 metres depth.

The hole intersected over 800 metres of near-continuous copper and gold mineralisation making it the longest exploration intersection of gold and copper recorded by Xanadu at Kharmagtai.

Xanadu’s managing director and CEO Dr Andrew Stewart said: “While Kharmagtai already is one of the world's most exciting new copper and gold discoveries, hole KHDDH462 is consistent with our long-held view that the Kharmagtai mineralised system contains significantly more gold and copper than we have delineated to date under JORC standards.

“We are particularly pleased to see this outstanding intersection in hole KHDDH462, right where our geological modelling predicted.

“Our strategy is clear: to add tonnes and grade to the existing resources by discovering additional high-grade deposits within the Kharmagtai Copper-Gold Project."

As at early-May 2018, two diamond rigs were drilling two step out holes to the discovery hole at Zaraa.

Wider step-out holes will be drilled aiming to discover copper-gold mineralisation closer to surface and to aid in delineating the size and shape of the porphyry system.

19 porphyry targets to test at Kharmagtai
Four new porphyry centres have now been discovered by Xanadu under shallow cover east of the existing resources.

The current strategy is to test all 19 targets identified before focusing exploration on the highest quality porphyry centres.

Growing global demand for new copper projects
The emerging Kharmagtai project is being advanced during a period of growing demand for new copper projects.

Market commentators continue to point to struggling supply from current operations and a weak pipeline of new projects coming online.

BMO Capital Markets in April 2018 said the world’s top copper operations in 2007 are producing 10-15% less today than 2007 and the trend is expected to continue.

Demand for copper is expected to remain strong given China’s infrastructure goals will require copper and it is an important metal in electric vehicles.

China, Japan & Mongolia show World Cup ambitions at FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup www.fiba.basketball

MANILA (FIBA 3x3 World Cup) – China’s women together with Japan and Mongolia’s men had the perfect preparation and boost of confidence for the FIBA 3x3 World Cup after they all won medals at the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup 2018 in China on April 27 – May 1.