Brazilian ex-billionaire Batista sentenced to 30 years in jail for bribery www.mining.com

Brazilian Eike Batista, the former oil and mining billionaire who lost his fortune and spent time in jail last year for alleged corruption, will have to hang about behind bars for the next 30 years.

Mongolia to host traditional clothing festival www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, July 3 (Xinhua) -- The annual festival "Mongolians in Deel" will be held on July 10 in Mongolia's capital Ulan Bator, with the aim of encouraging the younger generation to wear traditional clothing.

Wan Azizah in Mongolia in first overseas trip as DPM www.thestar.com.my

ULAANBAATAR (Mongolia): Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (pic) touched down at the Chinggis Khaan International Airport via a commercial flight at 7.30pm Tuesday (July 3) to attend a conference here.

Trump administration seeks to block China Mobile in the US www.bbc.com

The Trump administration has said it does not want one of the world's biggest phone carriers, China Mobile, to provide telecom services within the US, citing national security concerns.

Government debt totals 21.1 trillion MNT www.gogo.mn

In 2018, Cabinet is scheduled to complete payments of a total of 2.6 trillion MNT in principal bonds and 1.2 trillion MNT in bond interest payments. On June 29, the Minister of Finance announced that the Government reimbursed roughly 750 billion MNT for Dim Sum Bonds as well as domestically-issued principal bonds and interest repayments in June, on schedule.

Government expenditure projected to increase by 671 billion MNT www.gogo.mn

The Bank of Mongolia has released its June inflation outlook report. According to the report, the outlook for inflation remains stable.

Oldest evidence of horse veterinary care discovered in Mongolia www.phys.org

A team of scholars led by William Taylor of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History analyzed horse remains from an ancient Mongolian pastoral culture known as the Deer Stone-Khirigsuur Culture (ca. 1300-700 BC). Deer stones, with their beautiful deer carvings, and their accompanying stone mounds (khirigsuurs) are famous for the impressive horse burials that are found alongside them by the dozens, hundreds, or even thousands. Through careful study of skeletal remains from these burials, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Taylor and colleagues found that Deer Stone-Khirigsuur people began using veterinary dental procedures to remove baby teeth that would have caused young horses pain or difficulty with feeding—the world's oldest known evidence for veterinary dental care.

Previous research has shown that these early herders were the first in eastern Eurasia to rely heavily on horses as livestock for food products, and may have been among the first to use horses for mounted riding. Drawing on insights from his Mongolian colleagues, Jamsranjav Bayarsaikhan and Tumurbaatar Tuvshinjargal of the National Museum of Mongolia, Taylor argues that the development of horseback riding and a horse-based pastoral economy was a key driver for the invention of equine veterinary care.

"We may think of veterinary care as kind of a Western science," he says, "but herders in Mongolia today practice relatively sophisticated procedures using very simple equipment. This results of our study show that a careful understanding of horse anatomy and a tradition of care was first developed, not in the sedentary civilizations of China or the Mediterranean, but centuries earlier, among the nomadic people whose livelihood depended on the well-being of their horses."

Oldest evidence of horse veterinary care discovered in Mongolia
A horse skull placed next to a deer stone in central Mongolia. Horse skulls are revered by modern herders, as are deer stones -- this one has been decorated with a ceremonial blue prayer scarf. Credit: William Taylor
Additionally, Taylor and his team discovered that changes in horse dentistry accompanied major developments in horse control technology, including the incorporation of bronze and metal mouthpieces into bridles used for riding. This equipment, which spread into eastern Eurasia during the early first millennium BC, gave riders more nuanced control over horses, and allowed them to be used for new purposes—especially warfare. However, using metal to control horses also introduced new oral problems, including painful interactions with a vestigial tooth that develops in some animals, known as a "wolf tooth." Taylor and his team discovered that, as herders began to use metal bits, they also developed a method for extracting this problematic tooth—similar to the way most veterinary dentists would remove it today.

In doing so, these early riders could control their horses in high-stress situations using a metal bit, without accompanying behavioral or health complications, which may have had major implications for the ancient world. Nicole Boivin, Director of the Department of Archaeology at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, explains, "In many ways, the movements of horses and horse-mounted peoples during the first millennium BCE reshaped the cultural and biological landscapes of Eurasia. Dr. Taylor's study shows that veterinary dentistry—developed by Inner Asian herders—may have been a key factor that helped to stimulate the spread of people, ideas, and organisms between East and West."

New Mongolia mining service group launched www.mining-journal.com

Chief executive officer Batkhuu Dorj says MMS is set to open its new Khan Bogd workshop less than 20km from the Oyu Tolgoi mine-gate in August this year. The 720-square-metre facility will complement its main workshop at Ulaanbaatar. Already the firm and its 40 or so employees are working on electrical, pumping, fabrication, engineering and drafting projects for a range of clients.

MMS, owned 50-50 by Australia's Murray Engineering and South Gobi Development Corporation, has been in operation since May.

Murray, part of the internationally renowned Byrnecut Group, and South Gobi Development Corp did a thorough assessment of Mongolia's mining and infrastructure market before committing to the new venture.

"Mongolia has rich natural resources that are again arousing a high level of interest among investors," Batkhuu says.

"Murray Mining Services has a great opportunity and is positioned to grow with the expected expansion of mining projects and the development of basic infrastructure.

"There are two current mega projects in the South Gobi region in the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold and Tavan Tolgoi coal mines. They will play a significant role in Mongolia's future development.

"There will be large supporting infrastructure projects around these mega projects, including power plants, railways, processing plants, water supply and local community development projects."

Mongolia is also seeing renewed international investment in its copper, gold, molybdenum, zinc, tungsten, iron ore, uranium, fluorspar and other minerals.

MMS chief operating officer Gonzalo Sanchez, an experienced boiler maker and fabrication business manager who spent four years with Mongolia Komatsu dealer Transwest and was then involved in the formation of South Gobi Development Corp, says strong growth in the country's mining sector over the past 10-15 years has been punctuated only by the global slowdown in the industry between 2014 and 2016.

"The policies and investment laws are more favourable for investment now and with the government taking this very seriously they are only getting better investors and bigger investments made," Sanchez says.

"New investment in infrastructure such as the power plants and road projects in the eastern region will increase the attraction of mining in the area.

"We also see that, with the standard of fabrication and assembly work that can be achieved here, and by applying Murray standards in the operation, we will have an opportunity to produce export-quality products in Mongolia for supply in the region."

Indeed, MMS aims to emulate the success of the giant Oyu Tolgoi operation near Khan Bogd by training and developing a large, skilled labour force equipped to do machine maintenance, remanufacturing, and final assemblies for local mines and possibly operations further afield.

"Today 96% of Oyu Tolgoi employees are Mongolians and we very proud to see them running the world-class mine," Batkhuu says.

Murray Engineering managing director Craig Lindsay-Rae says the new Mongolia enterprise made a lot of sense as Murray's first offshore venture. The world-class engineering, maintenance and fabrication business has operations around Australia.

"Mongolia is a democracy which is politically close to Australia and, like Australia, the country is resource rich. The Mongolian people have a great work ethic," Lindsay-Rae says.

"Now is a good time for this venture because we have prominent partners who are committed to the South Gobi Region where the Oyu Tolgoi mine is situated.

"We were particularly impressed with the commercial and technical knowhow of the key managers of our partner company in Mongolia, and we have an excellent cultural fit. We look for synergy in culture in any investment we make, and that includes being customer-focused and being able to ensure we have homogenous quality and service standards across the globe, and all this we see being achieved in Mongolia."

Batkhuu, who has more than 20 years of direct experience in Mongolia's mineral exploration and mining sector, as well as a background in accounting and corporate finance, is highly enthused about prospects for regional development and expansion of MMS.

A former president of Mongolia's JCI organisation, part of the worldwide JCI young leaders and entrepreneurs network, Batkhuu says the opportunity to develop the skills and qualifications of local people in the South Gobi region in association with an international group widely recognised for its successes in this area, is particularly appealing.

MMS currently has three hectares of land around the 720sq.m workshop, giving it plenty of room to grow. "This is our first workshop and in the future we will have more for different purposes as MMS has several operating units," Batkhuu says.

Sanchez started working as a boilermaker trade assistant in Brisbane, Australia, when he was 17.

He went on to work for various leading small engineering and fabrication firms, such as Kador Engineering, Austin Engineering and Jaws Buckets. These companies have grown internationally on their domestic connections with mining and resources and Sanchez sees a similar opportunity emerging in Mongolia.

"The new workshop will have an initial focus on pump remanufacturing and service, and we can expand that in future to include fabrication and electrical maintenance," he says.

"All this can be done by locals with training from Murray to ensure world-class standards of work and service.

"This is a venture combining Australian and Mongolian enterprise and energy that I think has a great future."

Mongolia eyes investment for 8 pct growth in 2019 www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia aims to push up its economic growth rate to 8 percent and keep inflation below 8 percent in 2019, the Economic Standing Committee of parliament said Monday.

Details of Mongolia's crop cultivation www.news.mn

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry has provided details of crop cultivation this year: across Mongolia, 494.3 thousand hectares - or just under five square kilometers - are currently under cultivation, including 342 thousand hectares for wheat, 12.7 thousand hectares for potatoes, 8.1 thousand hectares for vegetables, 69.7 thousand hectares for oil plants, 36.6 thousand hectares for fodder plants, 947 hectares for medicinal plants and 386 hectares for various fruits. Cultivation began nationwide only on 3 May because of weather conditions.