Russia-China to invest in hi-tech development www.asia.nikkei.com

VLADIVOSTOK (Reuters) -- The Russia-China Investment Fund (RCIF) and China's Tus-Holdings on Tuesday announced joint investment plans focusing on developing technology, which would see $1.28 bln invested in the Russian Tushino Project Technology Park.

RJP-Power vacuum: Rio Tinto scours for electricity to run giant Mongolia copper mine www.reuters.com

LONDON/ULAANBAATAR, Sept x (Reuters) - Mining giant Rio Tinto is racing against time to find the electricity needed to run its giant copper-gold mine in Mongolia, as wrangles with the government threaten a further setback for the flagship project.

Oyu Tolgoi, located in the South Gobi region near landlocked Mongolia’s southern border with China, is scheduled to complete a $5.3 billion underground expansion by 2022, creating one of the world’s biggest copper suppliers.

The project is set to transform Mongolia’s tiny economy and is key for Rio as the sole potential growth area for its copper business, but it has been beset by squabbles over cost overruns, claims of unpaid taxes and corruption allegations.

Now, Rio Tinto and the government are engaged in brinksmanship, not only about the location of the power plant required to run the mine, but also who should pay for it, risking further delays. (Can we explain the brinksmanship?, or else maybe drop it)

Oyu Tolgoi currently pays about $100 million a year to buy electricity from China for its open pit mine, but according to a landmark 2009 agreement, a domestic power source must be found for the project by 2022.

The Anglo-Australian miner has invited three state-owned Chinese contractors to submit bids to build a $1.5 billion power station, but has yet to make a final decision on a go-ahead or receive permits from the Mongolian government.

Even if Rio Tinto made a decision immediately, it would be virtually impossible to complete construction before 2023, said an industry source said on condition of anonymity.

HOW RELIABLE IS THIS SOURCE? CAN WE GET A QUOTE HERE OR GIVE MORE DETAILS?

PARTNERS AT ODDS
The complication for the power project is the Mongolian government’s desire to kickstart the nearby Tavan Tolgoi coking coal project, a massive resources that would xxxx xxxx, and which lies just xxxx km from Oyu Tolgoi.

Rio had originally planned to build its own power capacity, but it was encouraged by the government in 2014 to switch to a proposed plant at Tavan Tolgoi, where it would be an off-taker rather than investor.

Mongolia hoped Oyu Tolgoi’s involvement as a guaranteed customer would encourage investors to back the long-delayed coal mine, and this remains its preferred option, a government source familiar with the situation said.

However, in February this year, the government cancelled a 2014 agreement setting up a framework for co-operation on a shared power plant (why did they do this?)

Oyu Tolgoi, which pays about $100 million a year to buy electricity from China, is looking at options for a domestic power source, said Luke Colton, chief financial officer at Turquoise Hill Resources, the Rio-controlled unit that owns 66 percent of the project.

“An Oyu Tolgoi-based plant is currently the most feasible option that could deliver a domestic power source within the shortest timeframe,” said Colton, although he added that a Tavan Tolgoi plant remains an “important option”.

LOCAL POLITICS
Whatever Rio does, Mongolia is still determined to go ahead with the Tavan Tolgoi plant.

Otgochuluu Chuluuntseren, a former government official who also served as an Oyu Tolgoi board member, said it was the best option, although politics were getting in the way. (what does this mean? can we say briefly?)

“The main challenge remains the same: political instability and unpredictability,” he said.

Some government officials have expressed impatience about the delays, saying plant construction (at Oyu Tolgoi or Tavan Tolgoi?) could have started years ago.

“Oyu Tolgoi should stop playing with the Mongolian state!” Mongolia’s energy minister Davaasuren Tserenpil said on the ministry’s official Twitter account last month.

Mongolia’s cabinet will soon discuss how to deliver electricity to the scarcely-populated South Gobi. (how do we know this? Will this push the story forward?)

Rio, meanwhile, says its plan for a power plant at Oyu Tolgoi could add another $1.5 billion to the project’s total costs, far higher than originally envisaged back in xxxx. With the Mongolian government owning 34 percent of the project, it would also have to stump up $500 million.

Sun Jianli, spokesman with the Power Construction Corporation of China, one of the contractors, told Reuters the bid was “preliminary” and the project was still “very far away”. The others, China Machinery Engineering Corporation and Harbin Electric International , declined to comment.

If nothing his built on time Rio and Mongolia would face a decision on the domestic power requirement to keep Oyu Tolgoi running. Even if it continue dto take Chinese power, the bill would soar once underground operations get underway. (why? Source?) (Additional reporting by David Stanway in SHANGHAI and Melanie Burton in MELBOURNE Editing by XXXXX)

Mongolia's foreign trade turnover up 23.6 pct so far this year www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's foreign trade turnover reached 8.47 billion U.S. dollars in the first eight months of 2018, up 23.6 percent year on year, customs data showed Monday.

Expensive transport costs reduce Iran's trade with Mongolia www.en.mehrnews.com/

Head of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Mojtaba Khosrotaj made the remarks in a meeting with Mongolia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mrs. B. Battsetseg, which took place in Tehran on Sep. 4, according to the website of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization (TPO).

Government’s foreign debt falls by 328 million USD in Q2'18 www.gogo.mn

The Bank of Mongolia (BoM) reported that the government’s foreign debt fell by 328 million USD in the second quarter of 2018, compared to the previous quarter, it's greatest drop over the last ten quarters.

Balance of trade sees a surplus of 869.2 million USD as of August 2018 www.gogo.mn

In the first eight months of 2018, Mongolia’s foreign trade turnover totaled 8.47 billion USD, an increase of 23.6 percent (1.6 billion USD) compared to August 2017.

None held accountable for the deaths of two children www.zgm.mn

ZGM newspaper traced after some of the shocking incidents involving children that occured this year with an aim to find faults and errors that are becoming the root cause of these increased number of child casualties. Just a few months ago, a child who was playing near a pharmacy got electrocuted to death after accidentally grabbing the barred door of the drugstore, to which a nearby grocery store attached a damaged electrical wire. According to the child’s mother, the ambulance said that the child was already dead when they arrived and forbade the parents from touching the body; however, the forensic review stated the child could have survived if first aid was available. Furthermore, the inspector ignored the forensic review and opened a criminal case only on the owner of the grocery story. The pharmacy was relocated by the time we arrived and the lawyer of the child was unaware of it. Therefore, the parents expressed that they wish to submit three demands to the Prosecutor: - Since both the pharmacy and grocery store did not ensure safety, the pharmacy must also be held accountable. - According to the forensic review, the doctor on duty could have saved the child; thus must be a subject to account. - The pharmacy owner reportedly testified that he was aware of the fact that the door was electrocuted and was interacting with the door without touching it.

Russia gears up for biggest war games since Cold War www.bbc.com

Preparations are under way for Russia's biggest military exercise since the Cold War, involving about 300,000 service personnel, in eastern Siberia.

China is sending 3,200 troops to take part in "Vostok-2018", with many Chinese armoured vehicles and aircraft. Mongolia is also sending some units.

The last Russian exercise of similar scale was in 1981, during the Cold War but Vostok-2018 involves more troops.

It comes at a time of heightened Nato-Russia tensions.

Relations between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) - a 29-member defence alliance dominated by the US - have worsened since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the drills were justified given "aggressive and unfriendly" attitudes towards Russia.

What will happen in the drills?
Tuesday and Wednesday will see planning and preparation while actual operations will start on Thursday and last five days, the head of the Russian general staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

The Russian defence ministry says 36,000 tanks, armoured personnel carriers and armoured infantry vehicles will take part in Vostok-2018, from 11 to 17 September, along with more than 1,000 aircraft. Vostok is Russian for east.

The exercise will be spread across five army training grounds, four airbases and areas in the Sea of Japan, Bering Straits and Sea of Okhotsk. Up to 80 naval vessels will take part, from two Russian fleets.

The drills will not be near the disputed Kuril islands north of Japan, Russia says.

The ministry's TV channel Zvezda says three brigades of Russian paratroops will play a key role, during drills at the Tsugol military range, near Russia's borders with China and Mongolia.

A key aim is to practise the rapid deployment of thousands of troops, as well as aircraft and vehicles, from western Russia to eastern regions, across thousands of miles, TV Zvezda reports. That involves in-flight refuelling of fighter jets.

The scale of Vostok-2018 is equivalent to the forces deployed in one of the big World War Two battles.

A smaller-scale Russia-Belarus exercise was held last year.

Why is this happening now?
President Vladimir Putin has made military modernisation - including new nuclear missiles - a priority.

Russia's armed forces are reckoned to have about one million personnel in total.

A Russian senator and reserve colonel, Frants Klintsevich, said "it suited the West that our units and headquarters lacked combat skills and co-ordination, but times have changed; now we have a different attitude to combat readiness".

The Chinese defence ministry spoke of deepening military co-operation and "enhancing both sides' capabilities to jointly respond to various security threats", without specifying those threats.

The ministry confirmed the extent of the Chinese involvement: "3,200 troops, more than 900 pieces of military hardware as well as 30 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters".

Mongolia has not given details of its involvement.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu says Islamist extremism in Central Asia is a major threat to Russian security.

China has imposed heavy security and censorship in the mainly Muslim Xinjiang region.

Xinjiang has seen intermittent violence - followed by crackdowns - for years. China accuses Islamist militants and separatists of orchestrating the trouble.

Mr Peskov said the involvement of Chinese units in Vostok-2018 showed Russia and Beijing were co-operating in all areas.

In recent years they have deepened military co-operation and during these drills they will have a joint field headquarters.

It contrasts with the Cold War years when the USSR and China were rivals for global communist leadership and clashed on their far eastern border.

Show of strength
The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Moscow writes:

The scale and scope of Vostok-2018 is unprecedented for modern Russia, but no surprise. The giant drill is clearly meant as a show of strength by Vladimir Putin and his military, a demonstration that - despite Western sanctions, including against the defence sector - the country remains defiant.

It's also a reminder that, while Russia is seen as a hostile and aggressive force in the West, Moscow has long seen Nato encroachment as the threat.

Hasn't Russia just held a military exercise?
Yes, in the Mediterranean - it focused on co-ordination between warships and aircraft.

Tu-160 heavy bombers also flew from Russia and practised launching cruise missiles - firepower that Russia has already used in Syria.

It was small compared with Vostok-2018, involving 26 vessels (including two submarines) and 34 aircraft. It lasted a week and ended on Saturday.

Western analysts saw it as part of Russia's operation in Syria. Russian aircraft have played a key role in support of Syrian government forces.

What has Nato said?
Spokesman Dylan White said Nato was briefed on Vostok-2018 in May and would monitor it.

He said "all nations have the right to exercise their armed forces, but it is essential that this is done in a transparent and predictable manner".

"Vostok demonstrates Russia's focus on exercising large-scale conflict. It fits into a pattern we have seen over some time: a more assertive Russia, significantly increasing its defence budget and its military presence."

Why is Russia-Nato tension high?
It has been increasing since Russia annexed the Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and backed pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Nato has reacted with an increased deployment of forces in eastern Europe, sending 4,000 troops to member nations.

Russia says the Nato build-up is unjustified and provocative. It says the Ukrainian revolution of 2013-2014 was a coup masterminded by the West.

Russian diplomats were expelled from Nato countries after the poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, with a nerve agent in southern England in March. The UK blamed Russian military intelligence - the GRU - for the attack; Moscow denied involvement

Russia to launch largest military drill on 11 September; 300,000 troops, including China and Mongolia, to participate www.firstpost.com

Russia on Tuesday will launch the biggest military drills in its history involving 300,000 troops as well as Chinese soldiers, in a move North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) denounced as "exercising large-scale conflict". The week-long deployment alongside Chinese and Mongolian armies dubbed "Vostok-2018" (East-2018) will start in eastern Siberia on 11 September.

It comes at a time of escalating tensions between Moscow and the West over accusations of Russian interference in western affairs and the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. The Russian army has compared the show of force to the USSR's 1981 war games that saw between 100,000 and 150,000 Warsaw Pact soldiers take part in "Zapad-81" (West-81) — the largest military exercises of the Soviet era.

However, defence minister Sergei Shoigu said this time would be even larger, with 300,000 soldiers, 36,000 military vehicles, 1,000 planes and 80 warships taking part in the drills. "Imagine 36,000 military vehicles moving at the same time: tanks, armoured personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles — and all of this, of course, in conditions as close to a combat situation as possible," Shoigu said.

The Russian army will roll out all of its latest additions for the event: Iskander missiles that can carry nuclear warheads, T-80 and T-90 tanks and its recent Su-34 and Su-35 fighter planes. At sea, the Russian fleet will deploy several frigates equipped with Kalibr missiles that have been used in Syria.

Russia's previous military exercise in the region, Vostok-2014, was almost half the size, with 155,000 soldiers participating.

The country's war games in Eastern Europe last year, Zapad-2017, saw 12,700 troops take part according to Moscow. Ukraine and the Baltic states said the true number was far bigger.

'Future World War'

President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend Vostok-2018 after hosting an economic forum in Russia's far eastern city Vladivostok, where his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping is one of the guests.

Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said the games were a "preparation for a future world war." He said: "The army's general staff believes this will take place after 2020 in the form of either a global war or a series of conflicts with magnitude... The enemy is the United States and its allies."

According to Felgenhauer, China's participation — although modest with only 3,200 men — will be a key factor in the drills. "It's not just about a sign or a message, but about a preparation for a real-life war of great magnitude," he said.

This opinion was shared by NATO, which said that Vostok-2018 "demonstrates Russia's focus on exercising large-scale conflict". Alliance spokesperson Dylan White said, "It fits into a pattern we have seen over some time — a more assertive Russia, significantly increasing its defence budget and its military presence."

Russia has denied the drills are a cause for worry. "Vostok-2018 is far from NATO's area of responsibility and does not affect the security of its member states," the Russian foreign ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Growing number of drills

Relations between Russia and the West declined sharply in 2014 with Moscow's annexation of Crimea and the subsequent conflict in eastern Ukraine. Since then, Moscow has increased the number of its large-scale military exercises in the Caucasus, the Baltic and the Arctic. At the same time, the Kremlin has accused NATO of expanding westwards and threatening Russian national security.

This week, Russia held military exercises in the Mediterranean. More than 25 warships and around 30 planes took part in the drills, as Russia increased its military presence in Syria where it intervened to help the Bashar al-Assad regime in 2015. Around 2,200 Ukrainian, American and other NATO soldiers took part in military exercises in western Ukraine in early September.

Last month, the Kremlin's spokesman said Russia's "ability to defend itself in the current international situation which is often aggressive and unfriendly to our country is justified, essential and without alternative".

Australia’s mining sector pushing for revamped Trans-Pacific Partnership: Interview www.mining.com

Right when the debate about the legislation to ratify the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership is about to start in Australia’s House of Representatives, the mining sector is out and about showing its support to the trade deal.

This week, the Minerals Council of Australia issued a statement supporting the findings in a recent study about the so-called TPP-11. The research was carried out by economists from Brandeis International Business School and Johns Hopkins University and projects $12 billion in net annual benefits to the country’s income by 2030 and increases in exports of $23 billion once it ratifies the Partnership.

Australia is the world’s number two gold producer.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership was signed in March 2018 by Australia and the other 10 countries that decided to move on with a new version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership after the U.S. withdrew from the latter in 2017.

Previous to showing their public support to the research report published this week, the Minerals Council of Australia presented a submission before the Australian Senate to back the accord.

In an interview with MINING.com, the group’s CEO, Tania Constable, explained some of the main points in the document presented to the Upper Chamber and gave details of how she believes the deal will benefit the mining sector Down Under.

How and why would deeper integration through regional agreements generate additional trade and output gains in Australia’s mining sector?
By reducing barriers to trade and investment, such as tariffs on goods, restrictions on services trade, and impediments to cross-border investment, these agreements stimulate economic growth and development. Faster economic growth, particularly in Asia-Pacific economies, translates into additional demand for Australian resources commodities as those economies build new industries and infrastructure that need materials like steel, coal, copper, nickel and LNG.

In addition, the CPTPP (TPP-11) includes specific commitments by several countries to reduce tariffs on Australian resources commodities and improve access for Australian mining services. These measures will make Australian resources and mining services exports more competitive in these TPP-11 countries, enabling Australia to increase its market share in those countries compared to competitor suppliers from non-TPP-11 countries.

As highlighted in MCA’s submission to the Senate, among those beneficial commitments are Peru’s promise to eliminate tariffs on iron ore, copper and nickel; Vietnam’s commitment to eliminate tariffs on butane, propane, LNG and refined petroleum; as well as Mexico, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam and Chile’s promise to improve access for Australian suppliers to their markets.

The TPP-11 also includes commitments by all parties to reform state-owned enterprises and energy markets, which will create opportunities for Australian mining and oil and gas services suppliers.

Tania Constable, CEO of the Minerals Council of Australia.

Is there a subsector within the mining sector that would benefit the most?
The MCA sees opportunities from the TPP-11 for Australia’s traditional large minerals exports, such as iron ore, coal and metals like copper, which will be in demand as developing economies covered by the TPP-11 continue to industrialise.

This industrialisation will mean greater investment by those countries in infrastructure, which will support demand for iron ore and metallurgical coal for steel-making, and in electricity generation, which will support demand for high-quality thermal coal. The MCA also sees significant opportunities from agreements like the TPP-11 for Australia’s world-class mining equipment, technology and services sector.

Looking at the study published this week by Peter Petri and Michael Plummer, it seems that the mining sector would benefit more from a TPP than a TPP-11, particularly when looking at exports. Why do you think this is?
The modelling shows that while there are significant economic gains from the CPTPP (TPP-11), the gains would have been higher still under the original TPP which included the United States. This is because the U.S. is the world’s biggest economy and its involvement in the original TPP would have boosted trade between America and the other 11 Asia-Pacific economies covered by the agreement.

Lower economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region under the TPP-11 compared to the original TPP is the reason export gains for Australian mining are lower under the TPP-11 than under the original TPP. For example, Vietnam’s national income would grow by 8.1 per cent under the TPP whereas under the TPP-11 this falls to 2.1 per cent. Slower growth in an emerging market for Australian resources like Vietnam translates into slower growth in Australian exports to that country.

However, as the modelling also shows, the mooted expansion of the TPP-11 to a TPP-16 including Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand, would see higher economic growth and higher Australian mining exports than under the TPP-11.

Why would the output of the mining sector increase by 1.9 per cent under the TPP and about a 0.7 per cent under the TPP-11?
Output of Australian mining in the modelling is driven primarily by export demand for commodities, which would be lower under the original TPP than under the TPP-11 without the U.S., and by domestic demand from the metals sector, which processes minerals commodities into metals such as iron and steel, aluminium and the like.

The modelling shows that the Australian metals sector also experiences lower growth in exports and output under the TPP-11 than under the original TPP.

Why is the mining sector so supportive of the TPP-11?
The TPP-11 is a high-quality trade agreement which goes beyond the traditional focus of trade deals on goods to also include important provisions on services, investment, trade facilitation and people to people links which will all benefit Australian mining. The agreement’s investment provisions, for example, will improve cross-border investment flows by providing greater regulatory certainty.

The cumulative positive impact of this agreement when combined with other free trade agreements is also significant in terms of the long-term benefits on offer.

This will be positive for the Australian mining industry’s ability to invest in developing and operating mining projects in TPP-11 countries, which include several countries in Latin America and South-East Asia with significant resources deposits. These economies will be looking for investment in coming years to develop their own sectors and by adopting more open arrangements for cross-border investment the TPP-11 will create additional investment opportunities for Australian mining businesses.

Finally, this agreement will help create and build stronger long-term strategic relationships between Australia and the other countries in the agreement, including between the respective mining and METS sectors of both countries.