Rio Tinto Group, 66 percent stakeholder of Oyu Tolgoi JSC, previously announced to invest USD 5 billion for the development. Over 80 percent of Oyu Tolgoi’s total value lies deep underground and the extraction cost is estimated to be around MNT 12 trillion. The company expects that 60 percent of total investment of the underground development will be financed this year. Furthermore, Oyu Tolgoi JSC plans to employ around 14 thousand workforce, which displays the intensity of the second phase development. The company recently announced that the sinking of Shaft 2 is expected soon and fit out will progress throughout 2018. Also, the sinking of Shaft 5, which progressed during the fourth quarter of 2017, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of this year. Armando Torres, CEO of Oyu Tolgoi JSC, announced to increase domestic companies’ involvement in the underground development project.

The company will be able to operate 24/7 on two shifts once the underground mine complex, which is using block-caving mining techniques, starts operation. The deepest shaft is the equivalent of 12 Blue Sky Towers in depth and is expected to progress throughout the year.

The block caving method of mining uses the force of gravity to extract ore from an underground deposit. A series of lateral tunnels are developed under the deposit with an undercut level and extraction level. The ore is undercut creating a void which allows the rock above to fall under its own weight into draw bells. Loaders on the extraction level then remove the fallen rock from the draw points, allowing more rock to feed into the draw bell and as the void created by the initial undercut propagates up through the deposit.

In addition, the company is planning to build around 10 km long conveyor, 3 maintenance shops, 2 drilling machine shops and a shotcrete station, as well as to drill 200 km long tunnels. Around 1000 subcontractor and suppliers can be involved in the underground development. Gold and copper contents in the concentrate is estimated to be tripled with the completion of the underground mine. The company is planning to start its operation by 2020 and reach full capacity by 2027. This will allow Oyu Tolgoi JSC to annually produce 500 thousand tons of copper. The company is currently producing around 175-200 thousand tons of copper annually.

Bayartogtokh.B, Tugsbilig.B

At the meeting, they exchanged views on possibilities to establish dry port and its significance. Mongolia joined the Intergovernmental Agreement on Dry Ports of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) in 2016 and it provided legal environment to establish international dry port and now it is important to take actions to realize, noted the federation representatives.

Establishment of an international dry port gives advantages to transport freight that carried via shipping to Mongolia free of charge, light-handed and at low cost and to tackle issues in transportion and logistics which play important role in export and import of Mongolia.

The representatives asked the Foreign Minister to render support on establishing related agreements with neighboring countries regartding to establishment of dry port. In turn, Minister D.Tsogtbaatar accepted the request and expressed to back operations of freight forwarders.

Present the meeting were authorities of Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Road and Transport Development.

B.Batchimeg

Congo shocker fells Ivanhoe Mines stockIvanhoe Mines, headed by billionaire mining financier Robert Friedland, ended down 11.3% on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday, not far off its lows for the day.

The Vancouver-based company, worth C$2.8 billion after the day's losses, is in partnership with China's Zijin Mining on the Kamoa-Kakula copper deposit in the Central African nation. Kamoa-Kakula is considered the largest high-grade copper project in development globally with a copper resource of more than 30m tonnes.

Ivanhoe is also building a new operation at Kipushi, a past producing zinc-copper mine in partnership with Congo's state-owned Gécamines. Ivanhoe's most advanced project Platreef platinum is located in South Africa.

Firms operating inside the country which includes Glencore, Randgold Resources, China Molybdenum, Eurasian Resources Group, MMG and others will immediately be subjected to higher royalties on metals including copper, cobalt and gold, as well as a new 50% tax on so-called super profits.

Super profits are being defined as income realized when commodity prices rise 25% above levels included in a project's bankable-feasibility study. Given the improvement in the price of most metals over the past couple of years – copper is up 67% since January 2016 and zinc +130% – having to deal with the new levy is more than just a possibility.

As for the cooperation between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Mongolian Government, Mr Masa Igata noted that the sides need to negotiate to further the terms to ease public frustration.

We held Mongolian investment forums in Hong Kong, London, Ulaanbaatar and Tokyo last year. The investors had positive approach for Mongolia.

He added, “In order to implement more efficient economic partnership with Japan, it is important for the Government to hear the suggestions of Mongolian and Japanese private sector. Although taxes on several import products have been reduced, business entities are facing more challenges. There is a risk in the legal environment due to fast approval of some bills. It is possible that the laws did not take certain stakeholders’ positions into account.

Law making process has to be complex and consider the interest of policy makers and business representatives. This can prevent possible loopholes. I think certain bills have been rushed; however, I do no think it is increasing risk for the investors. We held Mongolian investment forums in Hong Kong, London, Ulaanbaatar and Tokyo last year. The investors had positive approach for Mongolia.

MNT rate started to stabilize, so the financing cost has reduced. Furthermore, thanks to repaying foreign debts on time, foreign investors are still interested in Mongolia. Presently, the investors are waiting for the asset quality review (AQR) of Mongolian commercial banks. Although it was scheduled to be disclosed last year, it has not been disclosed yet. The investors’ trust will restore further with the transparency that follows the AQR.”

Baigal.G, Bilig.B

Click on the link if you want more detailed information http://www.mongolia-gold.com/
Contact: 7011-1106, 8911-3499, 9191-1383

At the meeting, Isabel Chatterton said that the World Bank and international banking and financial organizations highly recognize actions being taken by the Investment Protection Council established under the Government of Mongolia.

She also expressed a willingness to conduct joint projects and programs to enhance the Council’s activity.
Moreover, the IFC is interested in providing advisory service to a project on construction of new Central Wastewater Treatment Plant of Ulaanbaatar, which will be implemented with Chinese loans.

The IFC intends to cooperate in formulating plans and selecting contractor and in direction of operating the plant efficiently at lowest cost.

M.Unurzul

This mailbox subsidiary enjoyed a very low average effective tax rate of 4.19% over the past years, likely due to a beneficial tax ruling with Luxembourg’s tax authorities. As a result of this tax scheme, Rio Tinto’s subsidiary Movele has paid US$89 million in taxes in Luxembourg, which is US$470 million less than what would have been paid in Canada, if no tax avoidance scheme had been employed. The company reports that this arrangement was approved by Canadian authorities.

In addition, Rio Tinto and the other corporate investors behind Oyu Tolgoi achieved far-reaching concessions from the Mongolian government which severely limit the tax revenues Mongolia can hope to receive from the mine. Under pressure, the government of Mongolia facilitated Rio Tinto’s use of benefits enshrined in tax treaties with Luxembourg and the Netherlands;tax treaties which Mongolia unilaterally rescinded in 2013 due to concerns that they facilitated tax avoidance. Rio Tinto was able to negotiate an even lower tax rate in 2015, after a dispute over the distribution of Oyu Tolgoi’s revenues. As a result, the Mongolian government has missed out on approximately US$230 million in taxes over a five-year period.

Khurelbaatar Chimed, Minister of Finance, remarked “Since the International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team’s arrival, we have been negotiating for 5 days. The personal income tax has been raising public frustration. Therefore, we reached a deal with the IMF to revert the marginal tax bracket to effective tax rates. The minimum retirement age has also been reverted for the elders to choose when to retire. We are now working on reforming the General Taxation Law, Laws on Corporate Tax and Income Tax. Business entities are the foundation of the tax system. We will prepare more understanding law for them.”

Prime Minister Khurelsukh Ukhnaa said “We are allowing the elders to choose retirement at the age of 60 for males and 55 for females. If the individual is working under difficult conditions, they can retire at the age of 55 for men and 50 for women. Secondly, tax brackets have been returned back to the previous rates and the taxes paid in January will be refunded. We chose to work with the IMF.

Accordingly, the economy has showed a sign of recovery and we have repaid the Development Bank of Mongolia’s USD 580 million and 5-year Chinggis bond’s USD 500 million debts on time. Mongolia’s economy falls when commodity prices drop due to the heavy reliance on the mining sector. The reputation of our neighbors in the international organizations also have negative impact. Therefore, we will focus on two objectives. First of all, to maintain financial discipline of public services; and secondly, to stop economic downturn. We will accomplish this by reducing budget expenditure and increasing the revenue I note that national producers’ roles are significant in repaying foreign and domestic debts.” According to the PM, Mongolia’s annual domestic consumption of gasoline is around 1.1 million tons, of which 98 percent is being imported from Russia and 2 percent from China. Therefore, the PM announced to start the construction of an oil refinery in 2018.

Furthermore, PM shared that he is planning to submit a bill on prohibiting the transportation of raw coal to Ulaanbaatar city starting from April 2019 and is estimating the bill will reduce air pollution by 50 percent.

Tugsbilig.B