1 GOLD AND COPPER PRICES SURGE WWW.UBPOST.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/02      2 REGISTRATION FOR THE ULAANBAATAR MARATHON 2025 IS NOW OPEN WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/02      3 WHY DONALD TRUMP SHOULD MEET KIM JONG- UN AGAIN – IN MONGOLIA WWW.LOWYINSTITUTE.ORG  PUBLISHED:2025/04/02      4 BANK OF MONGOLIA PURCHASES 281.8 KILOGRAMS OF PRECIOUS METALS IN MARCH WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/02      5 P. NARANBAYAR: 88,000 MORE CHILDREN WILL NEED SCHOOLS AND KINDERGARTENS BY 2030 WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/02      6 B. JAVKHLAN: MONGOLIA'S FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES REACH USD 5 BILLION WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/02      7 185 CASES OF MEASLES REGISTERED IN MONGOLIA WWW.AKIPRESS.COM PUBLISHED:2025/04/02      8 MONGOLIAN JUDGE ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE APPEALS CHAMBER OF THE ICC WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/01      9 HIGH-PERFORMANCE SUPERCOMPUTING CENTER TO BE ESTABLISHED IN PHASES WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/01      10 LEGAL INCONSISTENCIES DISRUPT COAL TRADING ON EXCHANGE WWW.UBPOST.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/01      УСТСАНД ТООЦОГДОЖ БАЙСАН УЛААНБУРХАН ӨВЧИН ЯАГААД ЭРГЭН ТАРХАХ БОЛОВ? WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/02     САНГИЙН ЯАМ: ДОТООД ҮНЭТ ЦААСНЫ АРИЛЖАА IV/16-НААС МХБ-ЭЭР НЭЭЛТТЭЙ ЯВАГДАНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/02     МОНГОЛБАНКНЫ ҮНЭТ МЕТАЛЛ ХУДАЛДАН АВАЛТ ӨМНӨХ САРААС 56 ХУВИАР, ӨМНӨХ ОНЫ МӨН ҮЕЭС 35.1 ХУВИАР БУУРАВ WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/02     Б.ЖАВХЛАН: ГАДААД ВАЛЮТЫН НӨӨЦ ТАВАН ТЭРБУМ ДОЛЛАРТ ХҮРСЭН WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/02     1072 ХУВЬЦААНЫ НОГДОЛ АШИГ 93 500 ТӨГРӨГИЙГ ЭНЭ САРД ОЛГОНО WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/02     Н.УЧРАЛ: Х.БАТТУЛГА ТАНД АСУУДЛАА ШИЙДЭХ 7 ХОНОГИЙН ХУГАЦАА ӨГЧ БАЙНА WWW.NEWS.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/02     “XANADU MINES” КОМПАНИ "ХАРМАГТАЙ" ТӨСЛИЙН ҮЙЛ АЖИЛЛАГААНЫ УДИРДЛАГЫГ “ZIJIN MINING”-Д ШИЛЖҮҮЛЭЭД БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/02     ТӨМӨР ЗАМЫН БАРИЛГЫН АЖЛЫГ ЭНЭ САРЫН СҮҮЛЭЭР ЭХЛҮҮЛНЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/02     “STEPPE GOLD”-ИЙН ХУВЬЦААНЫ ХАНШ 4 ХУВИАР ӨСЛӨӨ WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/02     ҮЙЛДВЭРЛЭЛИЙН ОСОЛ ӨНГӨРСӨН ОНД ХОЁР ДАХИН НЭМЭГДЖЭЭ WWW.GOGO.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/01    

Events

Name organizer Where
MBCC “Doing Business with Mongolia seminar and Christmas Receptiom” Dec 10. 2024 London UK MBCCI London UK Goodman LLC

NEWS

64x64

Lonmin ups stake in Pandora platinum mine www.mining.com

Consolidation in South African's platinum mining sector continued on Friday with Lonmin's decision to buy Amplats' stake in the Pandora platinum mine.
 
According to a press release from Lonmin (LON:LMI), the world's third largest platinum producer, the company will pay between 400 million and 1 billion rand for Amplats' 42.5% stake, thereby giving Lonmin a 92.5% stake in the project. Northam Platinum (JSE:NHM) would be left with a 7.5% stake.
 
Lonmin will pay for the acquisition with 20% free cash flow generated from the Pandora mine over the next six years, with the final price dependent on platinum prices.
 
The Pandora mine is currently a joint venture between Lonmin's subsidiary Eastern Platinum Limited (EPL), Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) through Rustenburg Platinum Limited, and Northam Platinum. It accounts for 5% of Lonmin's production.
 
"The acquisition of AAP’s 42.5% stake in the Pandora JV allows Lonmin to consolidate its position in this relatively shallow and high-grade mineral resource providing an attractive option for development by EPL in both the short and longer term. The Pandora JV area, which is contiguous with our existing EPL operations, relies on Lonmin’s mining and processing infrastructure and is already operated by EPL. The Pandora JV contributed 37,553 Platinum ounces(74,019 platinum group metal (“PGM”) ounces) to Lonmin in the 2015 financial year," Lonmin states in the PR.
 
Reuters reported the transaction will "[bring Amplats] closer to its goal of offloading its labor intensive mines to focus on mechanized mines."
 
It's the second arrangement made between major South African platinum miners in recent weeks – evidence of the troubled South African platinum industry as miners struggle to meet labour demands from unions representing workers who mine the precious metals in some of the deepest and difficult conditions in the world.
 
On Oct. 11 Northam Platinum agreed to buy a mining right from Anglo American Platinum for 1 billion rand, which will enable it to extend the life of its Zondereinde mine, the world’s deepest platinum mine, beyond 30 years.
 
This will be possible, said Northam, because part of Amplats’ Amandelbult mining right is contiguous with the north-western boundary of Zondereinde.
 
Last week Amplats completed the sale of its Bathopele, Siphumelele and Thembelani mining operations to Sibanye Gold (NYSE:SBGL). Sibanye paid 1.5 billion rand for the mines upfront, along with two concentrating plants, a chrome recovery plant, and a tailings facility.
 
 
...


64x64

Saudi Arabia admits owing billions of dollars to contractors over oil slump www.rt.com

The Saudi Arabian finance minister has admitted billions of dollars are owed to private construction firms and foreign workers following the fall in oil revenue. Workers have been struggling for months without pay.
 
The kingdom has already paid off 70,000 redundant laborers, but tens of thousands remain stranded and unpaid. It has also suspended new contracts. The Council on Economic Affairs and Development (CEDA) does not expect all the workers to be paid off until the end of the year.“I don’t recall the exact amount now, but its billions of dollars,” said the new Finance Minister Mohammed Aljadaan, according to the Guardian.
 
“The ministry is now every day seeking to make thousands of payment orders,” he added.According to the official Saudi news agency, “the sharp decline in oil revenues and the measures taken by the kingdom to reduce spending on a number of projects” is what led to the delays in payment.
 
Saudi Arabia gets three-quarters of its revenue from oil. The 2014 slump in energy prices created a $98 billion budget deficit in 2015.
 
To curb this year’s deficit it raised $17.5 billion in its first international bond sale. According to CEDA – which is headed by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – “a package of solutions” is being prepared to “complete payments of amounts owed to the private sector.” The council said the awarding of future contracts has been stopped, as “the scale of spending was not compatible” with returns and development.
 
These contracts could be worth as much as one trillion riyals ($267 billion).
 
The government appears to have delayed payments and canceled contracts to offset losses, but in doing so it has sunk many of the country’s biggest construction companies into near bankruptcy, including the Saudi Binladen Group and Saudi Oger, which is run by Lebanon’s new premier, Saad Haririr. Oger’s workers have gone unpaid for months.
 
The kingdom has spent $1 billion paying off a portion of the stranded Asian workers with Saudi Binladin, according to sources familiar with the matter. This was intended to prevent a labor crisis and help send the workers home after massive layoffs.
 
The wider strategy of holding back payment and canceling contracts also threatened to have an adverse effect on subcontractors and smaller companies, which in turn threatened the country’s banks.
 
Currently, Saudi Arabia is expected to have a deficit of $87 billion in 2016. According to economist Giyas Gokkent, from the US-based Institute of International Finance, this is around 13 percent of the country’s GDP.
 
But the Saudis aren’t out of the woods yet, as more financial maneuvering is expected in view of the oil revenue decline.This may mean further “rearranging priorities of spending", according to their significance and efficiency. Recommendations are also being made to include better oversight of new contracts to help the country curb its reliance on oil, something the government says would help save “tens of billions” of dollars.
...


64x64

Trump election: Wall with Mexico 'to be part fence' www.bbc.com

US President-elect Donald Trump has said his planned wall along the Mexican border could be partly fence.
In some areas, "a wall is more appropriate", he told US broadcaster CBS, but "there could be some fencing",
Mr Trump repeatedly promised during his election campaign to build a wall to keep out illegal migrants.
He said he planned to deport or jail up to three million undocumented migrants with criminal records, such as gang members and drug dealers.
Other undocumented migrants would be assessed once the border was secured, Mr Trump added.
Forcing Mexico to pay for a border wall became a rallying cry among Trump supporters during the campaign.
Their candidate caused outrage by suggesting Mexicans were exporting "their rapists" to the US, along with drugs and other crime.

The Republican defeated Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's presidential election, shocking many who had expected the Democratic candidate to win following favourable opinion polls.
In his first major interview to a US broadcaster since the election, Mr Trump told CBS: "What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate."

...


64x64

Zuckerberg promises Facebook action over fake news www.bbc.com

Mark Zuckerberg has said Facebook will do more to tackle fake news, and again denied it had in any way aided Donald Trump's presidential election victory.
In a post on his Facebook profile Mr Zuckerberg said he hoped to announce measures to tackle fake stories "soon".
He said this work "often takes longer than we'd like in order to confirm changes we make won't introduce unintended side effects or bias".
And he said that more than 99% of content on Facebook "is authentic".
"Only a very small amount is fake news and hoaxes. The hoaxes that do exist are not limited to one partisan view, or even to politics," he added.
He said that made it extremely unlikely hoaxes "changed the outcome of the election in one direction or the other".
'Progress'
Mr Zuckerberg continued: "That said, we don't want any hoaxes on Facebook. Our goal is to show people the content they will find most meaningful, and people want accurate news.
"We have already launched work enabling our community to flag hoaxes and fake news, and there is more we can do here. We have made progress, and we will continue to work on this to improve further."
Some data has shown that fake stories were being far more widely shared on the platform than follow-up stories debunking the claims.
For an increasing number of people, particularly Americans, Facebook is becoming the primary source of news coverage.
The site's News Feed is specifically designed to show users content it thinks will be of most interest, creating what some describe as a "filter bubble" that reinforces a person's view without injecting differences in opinion.
Earlier this year, Facebook was accused of being anti-Trump after it was alleged its human moderators were favouring liberal stories appearing in people's "trending stories" box.
While denying that claim, the site did sack its human team, instead relying solely on an algorithm to determine which stories were shown to be most popular.
'Mainstream sources'
Mr Zuckerberg said any new changes to the way hoaxes and fake news were flagged up had to be taken with caution.
"This is an area where I believe we must proceed very carefully though," he said.
"Identifying the 'truth' is complicated. While some hoaxes can be completely debunked, a greater amount of content, including from mainstream sources, often gets the basic idea right but some details wrong or omitted.
"An even greater volume of stories express an opinion that many will disagree with and flag as incorrect even when factual.
"I am confident we can find ways for our community to tell us what content is most meaningful, but I believe we must be extremely cautious about becoming arbiters of truth ourselves."

...


64x64

S.Korean prosecutors request to question Park www3.nhk.or.jp

South Korean prosecutors say they plan to question President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday or Wednesday over a political scandal involving her friend and close aides.

Prosecutors announced on Sunday that they have notified the presidential office of their intention and are waiting for response.

Park will be South Korea's first sitting president to be investigated by prosecutors.

Prosecutors are expected to indict Park's friend and businesswoman Choi Soon-sil around next Saturday.

Choi is at the center of the scandal. She has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to abuse power and of attempting to defraud 2 foundations said to have been launched with the help of the presidential office. Two former presidential officials have also been arrested.

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Seoul on Saturday night to demand Park's resignation. A spokesperson for the presidential office says Park is aware of the severity of the situation and is working hard to fulfil her responsibility to normalize the country's political situation.

Prosecutors have also begun questioning the heads of Hyundai Motor, Samsung Electronics and other conglomerates as part of their investigation into the scandal.

...


64x64

Toyota agrees to $3.4bn rust dispute settlement in US www.bbc.com

The world's biggest carmaker, Toyota, has agreed to settle a US Federal class action for up to $3.4bn (£2.7bn).
It was brought by US owners of pickup trucks and SUVs whose claimed their frames could rust through.
The proposed settlement covers 1.5 million Tacoma compact pickups, Tundra full-size pickups and Sequoia SUVs.
Court papers alleged that the vehicles had received inadequate rust protection, and that corrosion could jeopardise their structural integrity.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs estimated the cost of frame replacements at about $3.375bn.
That was based on a cost of about $15,000 per vehicle and inspection costs of about $90m, at $60 per vehicle.
The Japanese carmaker Toyota admitted no liability or wrongdoing in the proposed settlement.
"We want our customers to have a great ownership experience, so we are pleased to resolve this litigation in a way that benefits them and demonstrates that we stand behind the quality and reliability of our vehicles," Toyota said in a statement.
Under the terms of the agreement, Toyota will inspect the vehicles for 12 years from the day they were first sold or leased in order to ascertain if frames need to be replaced at company expense.
They will also reimburse owners who previously paid for frame replacement.
The settlement covers Tacoma trucks from the model years 2005 to 2010, Sequoias from 2005 to 2008 and Tundras from the 2007 and 2008 model years.

...


64x64

China says concerned about EU protectionism on steel imports www.reuters.com

China is greatly concerned about the European Union's protectionist measures against Chinese steel products, the commerce ministry said on Saturday.

"The Chinese side has expressed great concerns and worries about the EU's trade protectionist tendency over steel," the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The ministry was responding to the EU's latest decision to take temporary anti-dumping measures against imports of Chinese seamless steel pipes, based on preliminary investigations, it said.

A worldwide steel glut has stoked trade disputes between China, the world's top maker of the construction material, and other producers such as the United States and the European Union.

High duties levied on Chinese products could seriously hurt Chinese companies, the ministry said.

"China is willing to strengthen exchanges and communication with the European side and properly solve problems that the steel industry is facing," it said.

(Reporting by Coco Li and Kevin Yao; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

...


64x64

Canadian oil company to invest $50bn in Russian projects www.rt.com

Canadian engineering technology company Genoil has signed a letter of intent worth $50 billion with Russia’s Grozneft. The deal will support what are described as integrated oil projects in Russia.
Genoil will develop oil fields and build clean technology upgraders, refineries and pipelines in Russia, according to the company.

At first, Genoil plans to invest $15 billion into projects in Russia’s southern republic of Chechnya. The company will explore ways to link the new project to existing pipeline networks in the region.

“We have good ties to Chinese investors, we are ready to invest into infrastructure development, and we believe that it’s possible to increase oil production in Russia by this,” a company representative said as quoted by Vedomosti daily.

“First of all, money will be invested into developing reservoirs in the republic to create a refinery with a capacity of 3-6 million tons of oil,” said Grozneft chairman Andrey Gusak, stressing that the investors may consider buying mining assets in other regions of the country.

Russia’s Economic Development Ministry hasn’t reportedly received any documents concerning the deal.
The project has raised doubts among the experts, interviewed by the daily.

“Genoil is an unknown company, while the sum is huge. Moreover, it may be equitable to the annual capital cost of the whole Russia’s fuel and energy sector,” said Valery Nesterov, analyst to Sberbank CIB.

Using Chinese capital, the company plans to invest into something that does not have economic sense, according to the head of Urus Advisory in Moscow.

“The Chinese do not need Canadians to enter the Russian market: they have ties, resources and business skills,” the analyst said.

...


64x64

Wanda's Wang Jianlin named richest in China www.asia.nikkei.com

SHANGHAI -- Wang Jianlin, the founder and chairman of property conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group, is the richest person in China, with assets worth 215 billion yuan ($31.7 billion), according to this year's Hurun Report ranking.

The list of China's richest people is issued annually by the Shanghai-based Hurun Report, led by British accountant Rupert Hoogewerf. The ranking targets Chinese businesspeople with total assets of more than 2 billion yuan. This year, the number of eligible individuals topped 2,000 for the first time.

Heads of property and internet businesses dominated the top spots. Jack Ma Yun, executive chairman of online shopping giant Alibaba Group Holding, was second richest, and Pony Ma Huateng, CEO of internet giant Tencent Holdings, was third.

Wang Jianlin has built a number of shopping malls and theme parks in China while expanding his realm aggressively through buying companies including American film studios. His business appears to be struggling with financing recently, but the Wang family's assets exceeded even those of Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong's richest man, who runs the conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings.

Jack Ma Yun, executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holding
Ma's assets, meanwhile, increased more than 40% in the past year, largely thanks to the successful 30 billion yuan fundraising by Ant Financial Services Group, Alibaba's online payment affiliate, earlier this year. The steady growth of Alibaba shares on the New York Stock Exchange also contributed.

Most of the richest individuals expanded their assets through mergers, acquisitions or fundraising. Alibaba, for example, obtained a stake in Didi Chuxing, China's leading ride-hailing service, in addition to investing in some startups.

Tencent bought Finnish gaming developer Supercell. The value of Tencent shares in the Hong Kong market has grown to 2 trillion Hong Kong dollars ($257 billion), closely behind Alibaba, China's No. 1 company in terms of market capitalization.

Despite a 15% increase in his assets, Robin Li, the founder and chief executive of search engine provider Baidu, fell to eighth place on the list. This was partly due to a slump in Baidu's shares due to criticism over the search platform's inappropriate handling of medical ads. Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, China's top three conglomerates, are often referred to collectively by the acronym BAT, but the gap between Li's business and the other two appears to be widening.

The stock market in China crashed last year, and the value of the Chinese currency has fallen about 10% since the beginning of 2014. As the country's economy struggles, the growth pace of the richest men's assets has also slowed, averaging 7%.

...


64x64

Bull market! Chinese stocks up 21% since January panic www.cnn.com

The bull is back in China.
China's benchmark index, the Shanghai Composite, has rallied by more than 21% from its recent low in January when traders panicked and stocks cratered.
A 20% rise is needed for stocks to technically be considered in a "bull market."
However, the move higher isn't enough to compensate for the painful losses suffered by Chinese investors in 2008 and 2015. The Shanghai Composite is still down 48% from its 2007 pre-financial crisis high, and 38% below another smaller peak set last June.

Chinese markets are extremely volatile because they're dominated by mom-and-pop investors who tend to follow trends, herd into stocks and then get skittish.
The country's second-largest index, the Shenzhen Composite, is prone to even wilder swings. It's up 30% from its January low.
Charlie Awdry, a fund manager at Henderson Global Investors who specializes in Chinese equities, said the new bull market resulted from a "stealth drift up" over the past few months rather than a sudden surge.
Trading volumes -- the number of shares traded each day -- are still pretty low, he said.
china shanghai composite index
Chinese investors are getting back into the market and bidding shares higher as they divert their money away from an overheated housing market that's becoming less and less affordable.
The government recently moved to cool the market by introducing restrictions on purchases, and some investors have reacted by moving their money into stocks, said Awdry.
Government spending on infrastructure projects and lending by state banks have also played a part in the stock market recovery.
The stimulus measures are being taken to support China's slowing economy, which is growing by 6.7% annually. That may sound fast, but it's much slower than the double-digit growth seen in previous years.

The start of the bull market in China comes immediately after Donald Trump's election win in the U.S., which helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit an all-time high on Thursday.
But experts say there's no connection to the presidential election.
"[Chinese investors are] probably watching the fact that Trump [was elected to be] President... but that's really not occupying much mindshare as they're trading this market," said Awdry. "They are dancing to a different tune than everyone else."

...