The company halted production of refined copper at its smelter at the Utah-based mine on Oct. 8 after a worker was exposed to sulphur dioxide gases at the plant while removing debris from a boiler. The employee died two days later.

Rio Tinto Kennecott accounts for nearly 20% of the US total copper production, and its iconic Bingham Canyon mine is one of the world’s top producing operations.

Visible from outer space, the Bingham Canyon is the also world’s deepest open-pit mine. First discovered by Mormon pioneers in the mid-1800s, it is over 1.2 km deep, 4 km wide and covers 7.7 km².

A massive slide at the mine almost five years ago slowed, but did not stop, Rio’s plans to extend the mine’s life by another decade, to 2029. The company believes there’s still as much ore in the ground as miners have taken out of Bingham Canyon since it began production in 1906.

It is estimated that the mine has produced more copper than any mine in history – more than 19 million tonnes. Last year, the Kennecott generated 125,800 tonnes of refined copper, about 20% less than in 2016.

As such, the Mongolian Government will obtain EUR 5 million loan within the Mongolia-Germany Intergovernmental Agreement on Financial Cooperation in 2016-2017 for the Energy Efficiency -I Program, and an Additional Loan and Second Project Agreement between the Government of Mongolia and KfW Development Bank based in Frankfurt.

The sides agreed on a 30 year-term loan with an annual interest of 2 percent and 10-year moratorium.
G.Tuguldur

For this, SDC earmarked a total of CHF 51.5 million, with an annual average expenditure of 12-13 million.

This year, the SCD is aiming to create developed society with accessible for people, equal and green by strengthening capacity of Mongolian citizens and organizations. Moreover, they will focus on three sectors including agriculture and food security, basic education and vocational training, and governance.

The Agriculture and Food Security domain will aim to improve the livelihoods of rural and peri-urban small-scale farmers and vulnerable herders. In this sense, SDC will continue to address the challenges of rangeland degradation due to overstocking and climate change, support the diversification of production in the agriculture sector, and work towards better animal health and strengthened market links to increase the competitiveness of Mongolian products.

The Basic Education and Vocational Training domain will foster increased employment of women and men, by upgrading training programs and building the capacity of teachers and trainers in secondary and TVET schools and civil servants in employment services. The intensive collaboration with the private sector will remain a priority.

The Governance domain will foster accountable and effective national and sub-national government and an empowered civil society, by supporting the decentralization and democratization agenda of the Government of Mongolia. SDC will work towards the institutionalisation of capacity building efforts in partner institutions and continue policy-level support through technical assistance and the provision of Swiss expertise at national and local levels. Climate change and internal migration may become areas of future support in the Governance domain, particularly in peri-urban areas.
Source: Swiss Development Agency in Mongolia

The Artist's Choice Award was another Team Mongolia with a piece entitled, "Time" at the annual event in Breckenridge, the U.S. state of Colorado.

Alongside 14 other teams, Mongolia worked a total of 65 hours across five days until Jan. 27 without the use of power tools, internal support structures or colorants.

This is the sixth year of Mongolian artists participating in the competition. In 2017, Artists' Choice was split between the Mongolian teams. Also, the first place winner of both the Artist's and People's Choice Awards of the 23rd Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Championships Awards was Team Mongolia, whose "Mongolian Warriors" sculpture depicted life-like 13th-century warriors and their horses striding out of a solid 20-ton block base of snow.

This year's Silver was awarded to Team China for their homage to "The Thinker" piece. Team USA won Bronze with their piece titled "Dance Divine."

Last year's winner of the Snow Sculpture Championships was Team China with a piece entitled, "Mermaid."

The two sides discussed ways to strengthen the relationship by setting up a joint working group to explore:

whether funding costs can be reduced to improve benefits from the Oyu Tolgoi project for all shareholders
an accelerated path of development for a power solution in Mongolia
an acceleration of Oyu Tolgoi’s strategy to enable private and public investments towards sustainable community development in Khanbogd, the town proximate to the mine
Rio Tinto chief executive J-S Jacques said: “Rio Tinto remains fully committed to Oyu Tolgoi and Mongolia. Our nearly 14,000 employees and the people of Mongolia should be proud that Oyu Tolgoi is one of Rio Tinto’s safest and most productive mining businesses in the world. We remain committed to creating opportunities for talented Mongolians to build their careers on a global stage.

“We want to work with the Government of Mongolia to create long-term sustainable solutions that benefit all stakeholders and the country while staying true to the established investment frameworks.

“We will continue to work together to solve outstanding issues as the joint working group progresses win-win solutions on matters such as power and community development.”

SOURCE: Rio Tinto

The finance minister reported that the Mongolian economy and Tugrik rate has stabilised, foreign reserve and investment has increased and the budget deficit has decreased; since the IMF programme began Mongolia’s credit rating has been upgraded.

The IMF team will stay for 14 days in Mongolia.

Also, children under the age 12 are prohibited to participate in all horse races held between the 3rd day of the first month of spring in the lunar calendar and May 1.

The decisions were made by the Government of Mongolia in connection with the health and safety of child jockeys and preventing possible risks during horse races.

According to the Rules of the National Naadam Horse Racing, the minimum age of child jockeys is seven years of age. However, this rule does not apply to all horse races in the country organized throughout the year.

Child jockeys are at greatest risk of being hurt when horses race in the extremely cold weather and at their highest speed.

Using child jockeys during winter and spring should be viewed as a dangerous form of child labor, critics say.

According to statistics, over 1,500 child jockeys were injured during training and races in the last five years, many children became disabled for life as a result of these races, and more than 10 lost their lives during a race.

The funds will be used to construct a new production facility for fresh noodles and for the purchase of equipment by the subsidiary Agi LLC. In addition, Icemark LLC – another subsidiary of the Teso Group – will receive a portion of the loan to acquire equipment for ice cream production expansion.

Teso Group is one of the largest local food and beverage companies in Mongolia. Initially founded as a small ice cream family business, the company is today a medium-sized enterprise producing ice cream, snacks, noodles, margarine, dairy products and beverages, as well as importing other foodstuffs.

The cooperation between Teso Group and the EBRD began in 2014 when the Bank provided Mongolia’s first local currency loan equivalent to US$ 5.5 million. Local currency funding reduces the exchange rate risk for Mongolian producers but access to these funds remains scarce.

Irina Kravchenko, the EBRD’s Head of Office in Mongolia, said: “We are proud to sign the agreement with Teso Group today as it will support the expansion and growth of a strong and competitive local producer. Having been a partner of the company for more than three years now, we are impressed with the vision, drive and determination of its owners and employees to make it one of the market leaders in Mongolia. The combination of high quality and reasonable prices is a guarantee that consumers will benefit from Teso Group’s success.”

Damjin Odon, Chairman of Teso Group’s Board of Directors, said: “Teso Group started cooperating with the EBRD in 2012 on an international advisory project in preparation for our first financing from the Bank. As a result, our first project together is being implemented successfully. Today we are signing a second loan agreement to support our business expansion, which is taking our cooperation to the next level of development. I am sure that we will work with the Bank on future projects, bringing significant benefits to the Mongolian economy.”

The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Mongolia, with over €1.6 billion invested in 93 projects in the country to date. The Bank’s investments aim to make the local economy more competitive, integrated and resilient.

Arrivals from Russia in 2017 surged 36.3 per cent from 2016 to 25.3 million tonnes, data from the General Administration of Customs showed, with December figures at 2.14 million tonnes, up 16.2 per cent from a year ago and 11.5 per cent from November.

Imports from Mongolia rose to 33.58 million tonnes in 2017, up 27.6 per cent from 2016, while December’s imports came in at 2.83 million tonnes, down 18.6 per cent from a year ago but up 2.5 per cent from November.

What will China say to US ‘blunt’ call to expel North Koreans?

China issued a ban on coal imports from North Korea in late February, about a week after the country tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile. For the rest of the year, China only reported North Korean coal imports in August and September.

In 2016, China brought in more than 20 million tonnes of North Korean coal, making it Beijing’s fourth-largest supplier after Australia, Indonesia and Mongolia.

“The majority of market share left by North Korea was grabbed by Russia, as mining costs in Russia are cheaper than in China’s northeastern region,” said Cheng Gong, an analyst at the China National Coal Association.

China’s imports from North Korea plummet to lowest level in four years

In 2017, Australia was China’s largest coal supplier for a sixth year in a row, bolstered by increasing demand for high-grade supplies due to Beijing’s crackdown on air pollution.

Coal imports from Australia rose 13.4 per cent from 2016 to 79.91 million tonnes. In December, China bought 8.07 million tonnes of Australian coal, up 19.4 per cent from a year ago.

Australian coal, with lower pollutants such as sulphides and ash and a higher energy value, is considered a high-grade fuel compared to Mongolian and Indian supply.

Arrivals from Indonesia in 2017 fell 9.7 per cent from 2016 to 35.28 million tonnes. December imports of 1.71 million tonnes were down 63.1 per cent from the same period in 2016.

China gas imports soar amid pollution crackdown on use of coal

In late November, Beijing eased some restrictions on coal imports to ensure stable coal supplies during the peak winter heating season.

Data released earlier this month showed China’s total December coal imports rose 3 per cent from November to 22.74 million tonnes.

Vessel-tracking and port data compiled by Thomson Reuters Supply Chain and Commodity Forecasts suggest China in January will import around 20.9 million tonnes of seaborne coal, both thermal and coking, up from 17.2 million in December and 19.1 million in November.