Bitcoin futures start trading on CBOE exchange www.reuters.com

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The newest way to bet on bitcoin arrived on Sunday, with futures of the cryptocurrency that has taken Wall Street by storm starting trading for the first time.

Iron ore, copper prices recover after record Chinese imports www.mining.com

Copper and iron ore prices bounced back on Friday after customs data showing a sharp increase in imports by China as the country's winter anti-pollution program cuts down domestic refinery and blast furnace production.

In brisk trading New York Comex copper for delivery in December added nearly 1% from Thursday's settlement price touching a high of $2.9915 a pound ($6,595 per tonne). Copper is still down sharply for the week after suffering its worst one-day decline in almost three years on Tuesday.

November customs data from China showed import volumes of unwrought copper rose sharply totalling 470,000 tonnes during the month, up more than 42% from October and the highest since December 2016. While imports were up 23.7% from November last year, cargoes are down some 5% over the first 11 months of 2017 to 4.24m tonnes compared to the same period in 2016. Full year imports in 2016 hit a record 4.94m tonnes.

Shipments of copper concentrate in October increased slightly from last year to total 1.78m tonnes in November, a new monthly record and up nearly 30% from October's disappointing figure. Year to date Chinese concentrate imports are up moderately from last year. China consumes nearly 50% global copper output.

"Chinese traders appear to have bought more copper abroad because some copper smelters in the country have reduced their production for environmental reasons or because the traders expect production to be cut," Commerzbank analysts said in a note.

"The fact that copper concentrate imports climbed to a record high in November does not tally with this argument, however. It points rather to an ongoing high level of refined copper production in China."

Iron ore shipments set for another record year
China consumes more than two-thirds of the seaborne iron ore market and produces as much steel as the rest of the world combined. Beijing's war on smog has concentrated on the country's steelmaking hubs near the capital where mandated cuts of as much as 50% came into effect in October.

Imports of high-quality iron ore fines and lump ore from Australia, Brazil and South Africa jumped 19% from October to 94.45m tonnes last month. November imports were up 2.8% from a year ago after topping 100m tonnes in a single month for the first time in September.

Total shipments for the first 11 months of the year are up 6% to 990m tonnes putting the country on track to top record imports in 2016 of just over 1 billion tonnes.

China's iron ore imports rose in November even as steel mills are cutting output as part of a government drive against pollution as some analysts said traders were stockpiling inventory.

Iron ore imports "were not necessarily just by steel mills but could have been also purchased by traders," said Helen Lau at Argonaut Securities in Hong Kong.

The Steel Index benchmark price for Northern China 62% Fe ore climber 3% on Friday to trade at $68.40 a tonne. While down sharply from highs struck early in 2017, iron ore has recovered by 19% from lows hit two months ago. Year-to-date iron ore has averaged $70.60 a tonne compared to $56.50 over the course of 2016.

Countering Fake News and Corruption in Mongolia www.democracyspeaks.org

Fake news and corruption are two significant issues testing the fabric of Mongolian democracy today.

Although these challenges have been widely covered global trends, with fake news becoming somewhat of a buzz word in the realms of politics and international development, neither issues are new but will continue to test the integrity of developing democratic systems around the globe. As a result, democracies such as Mongolia will require strong investigative journalism to counter their toxic and disruptive effects. The role of a free, open and credible press is now more critical than ever to help inform citizens and inject transparency and accountability into anti-corruption efforts.

According to the latest report by Mongolia’s Independent Authority Against Corruption—an independent government body tasked with raising public awareness and supporting corruption prevention activities, a wide range of inappropriate practices and illegal budget spending practices have recently been uncovered. The investigation, which assessed the activities of local government activities across all 21 provinces, including state institutions from 98 soums (counties) revealed a host of corrupt practices being carried out by local governments. These corruption violations purportedly include government officials concurrently taking charge over multiple political positions; unreasonable dismissal of local government employees; the dissemination of salaries during periods of unemployment; obtaining illegal donations and financial assistance; and hiring unqualified candidates for government positions.

Admittedly, addressing corruption and abuse of public resources and the authority of local officials remains a formidable challenge; however, an invaluable first-step is for such abuses to be uncovered and revealed to citizens. As a democratic country with an open media environment and free press, Mongolian journalists can play a key role in Mongolia’s fight against corruption by bringing transparency and accountability to violations and patterns of corruption.

Since 2014, IRI has supported transparency and accountability in local democratic governance through a dual-track approach that targets both the supply side (government) and demand side (civil society) of the democratic governance equation. IRI works directly with the Capital City Governor’s Office and Mayor of Ulaanbaatar to counter corruption and increase transparent governing practices while also bringing together municipal civil servants, civil society organizations and ordinary citizens to fight corruption. Through its partnership with the Ulaanbaatar Mayor, IRI has facilitated a jointly implemented Transparent UB Academy where government officials, civil servants and civil society organizations collaborate and create a citizen-focused information campaign. With technical support from IRI, these groups have worked on initiatives that improve transparency and accountability—from budget analysis and citizen budget seminars to workshops for public servants in decision-making positions focused on legal knowledge of anti-corruption statues and international ethics standards. For instance, this year alone, IRI has trained nearly 300 civil servants throughout Ulaanbaatar.

More recently, in cooperation with the Public Affairs Section of U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, IRI trained journalists from Ulaanbaatar and Darkhan. The participating press learned how to identify opportunities for investigative stories and contribute to the propagation of accurate news in Mongolia, which can go a long way in helping journalists and citizens uncover both cases of fake news and corruption abuses.

The case is clear that there is a role for investigative journalism to supplement anti-corruption efforts; however, more work needs to be done to enable and empower Mongolia’s press to call out corruption and serve as a check on abuses of local public office. Due to a weak institutional framework for the growth of a vibrant media whereby underpaid and undertrained media outlets are susceptible to corruption in addition to an overall lack of a universal code of conduct among Mongolian journalists, media outlets still struggle to report factual, citizen-centered information.

Despite highly publicized exposés highlighting corruption and misuse of government funds spearheaded by many prominent Mongolian journalists, most journalists and news agencies are susceptible to political pressures and remain disempowered. Within this context, IRI works to build the capacities of Mongolian journalists to maintain ethical standards and to develop high-quality, unbiased and accurate content relevant to Mongolian citizenry to address the problem of fake news in the digital age. Despite robust buy-in on the part of Mongolian journalists and media outlets to partner with IRI and past support from the Public Affairs Sector of the U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar for empowering journalists, IRI’s current analysis has revealed a clear need for continued support and capacity building for journalists to counter the toxic and disruptive effects that fake news and corruption have on Mongolia’s democracy.

Posted by
Craig CastagnaProgram Officer, Asia Division

Mongolian Gov’t can’t nationalize Erdenet Copper Mine — court www.mining.com

Mongolia’s Supreme Court has ruled the government is not allowed to nationalize a 49% stake little-known Mongolian Copper Corp (MCC) owns in a former Russian copper mine.

Wall Street may be backpedaling on impending launch of bitcoin futures www.rt.com

While bitcoin enthusiasts are bracing for the much-anticipated investor acceptance of digital currency when futures trading starts this weekend, the world’s biggest banks have reportedly halted the move.

MBA reports on the banking sector in Q3’17 www.mongolia.gogo.mn

The Mongolian Bankers Association (MBA) released a report on the banking industry's performance in the third quarter of 2017.

The banking sector's total capital reached one trillion MNT in Q3'17, a 9.1 percent increase over the previous quarter and a 13.8 percent increase compared to the same period in 2016.
Q3'17's capital is the highest figure on record in the past three years. Absolute capital of the banks was 25 trillion MNT in the first three quarters of the year, increasing by 2.3 trillion MNT within one quarter.
Seventy-eight percent of the hike was generated from increased deposits. It was estimated that deposits at 12 banks have increased.

Massive Oyu Tolgoi mine to more than double gold production in 2018 www.mining.com

Rio Tinto-controlled Turquoise Hill (TSX:TRQ) is expecting its majority-owned Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia to churn in 2018 more than double the amount of the precious metal forecast for this year, with operating costs dropping about 2.8%.

In an update that went almost unnoticed, the Canadian miner said earlier this week it expected the massive Mongolian mine to produce 240,000 to 280,000 ounces of gold concentrate next year, more than double the 100,000 to 140,000 ounces initially expected for 2017.

The Vancouver-based company also forecast the mine to generate 125,000 to 155,000 tonnes of copper in 2018, slightly less than the 130,000 to 160,000 tonnes predicted for this year.

Operating cash costs for 2018 are expected to be about $700 million, down from the $720 anticipated for this year as a result of lower concentrator and logistics costs.

Capital expenditures for 2018 on a cash-basis are expected to be approximately $150 million for open-pit operations and $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion for underground development, Turquoise Hill noted.

Open-pit operations are expected to mine in Phase 6 in early 2018 and Phase 4 throughout the year, while it will also expects to process stockpiled ore in 2018.

The increased gold production relative to the 2016 technical report, Turquoise Hill said, can be explained by the splitting of Phase 4 into two parts (4A and 4B) and also by bringing production forward from future years, it noted.

Situated in the southern Gobi desert of Mongolia, about 550 km south of the capital, Ulaanbaatar and 80 k north of the border with China, Oyu Tolgoi is jointly owned by the government of Mongolia (34%) and Turquoise Hill (66%, of which Rio Tinto owns 51%).

The mine is expected to be world's third-largest copper operation at peak production in 2025, with output of over 550,000 tonnes per year.

While Oyu Tolgoi is Mongolia’s highest profile asset, the country hosts a number of other copper, gold and coal mines and projects, including Canada’s Erdene Resource Development (TSX:ERD), the company that literally struck gold earlier this year after finding its new gold project was richer than previously thought.

Australian explorer Xanadu Mines (ASX:XAM) is also among the established companies in Mongolia, with its underway Kharmagtai copper-gold project, south-east of Ulaanbaatar, returning exceptional results in the first months of this year.

Searching for the next Oyu Tolgoi 
Aware of the country’s mineral potential, Rio Tinto and Turquoise Hill revealed earlier this year they are already exploring the area close to Oyu Tolgoi, following the country’s renewed efforts to attract foreign investment.

In May, the landlocked country bordering China and Russia decided to open more than one-fifth of its territory for mining exploration, hoping to shore up its finances following an International Monetary Fund-led bailout.

Since mining accounts for around 25% of Mongolia’s GDP and more than 80%of exports, experts believe that increasing mining exploration could potentially raise the Asian nation’s GDP and economic security.

S. Korea joins hands with Mongolia on patient follow-up programme www.millat.com

SEOUL, (MILLAT ONLINE):South Korea’s health ministry said Friday that it has reached an agreement with a Mongolian hospital to carry out patient follow-up measures aimed at improving the quality of medical treatment.

According to the pact between the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Mongolian National University, a care center will be set up to provide services to Mongolian patients who have received treatment in South Korea.
An increasing number of Mongolians are arriving in South Korea to receive medical attention, and they have asked for post-op care once they return to their home country, the ministry said.
The ministry said physicians from both countries will work together to check patients through an ICT-based system.
More than 15,000 Mongolians have visited South Korea for treatment, including cosmetic surgery, the ministry said. The country has a population of 3 million.

Korean defense chief requests Mongolia's support in handling NK nukes www.akipress.com

South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo (R) shakes hands with his Mongolian counterpart Nyamaa Enkhbold during a Seoul meeting on Dec. 7, 2017. (Yonhap)

AKIPRESS.COM - The defense ministers of South Korea and Mongolia agreed Thursday to work together to resolve the North Korean nuclear and missile issue as the two met in Seoul, the South Korean defense ministry said.

Turkish aid agency trains health staff in Mongolia www.aa.com.tr

Turkey’s state-run aid agency gave training to Mongolian doctors and nurses in Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar, it said on Thursday.