Chelsea's Russian owner Roman Abramovich says he is "giving trustees of Chelsea's charitable foundation the stewardship and care" of the club.

Abramovich, who will remain the club's owner, has made the move amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The decision also comes a day before Chelsea play Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.

"I have always taken decisions with the club's best interest at heart," Abramovich said in a statement.

"I remain committed to these values. That is why I am today giving trustees of Chelsea's charitable Foundation the stewardship and care of Chelsea FC.

"I believe that currently they are in the best position to look after the interests of the club, players, staff, and fans."

His statement did not reference the invasion of Ukraine.

The Chelsea Supporters' Trust said it was "seeking urgent clarification" on what the statement means for the running of the club.

It is not known yet if Abramovich will be sanctioned as part of the UK government's measures against Russia.

BBC Sport understands Chelsea are not for sale, and the £1.5bn loan their owner gave to the club is not being called in.

Abramovich is one of Russia's richest people and is believed to be close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He added: "During my nearly 20-year ownership of Chelsea FC, I have always viewed my role as a custodian of the club, whose job it is ensuring that we are as successful as we can be today, as well as build for the future, while also playing a positive role in our communities."

The Chelsea Foundation runs the club's community and education departments as well as other charitable activities. Its chairman is US lawyer Bruce Buck, who is also chairman of the club as a whole.

The foundation's other trustees are Chelsea women's team manager Emma Hayes, the club's director of finance Paul Ramos, British Olympic Association chair Sir Hugh Robertson, Fare (Football Against Racism in Europe) chief Piara Powar and lawyer John Devine.

During Abramovich's time at Chelsea, the club have won the Champions League twice, both the Premier League and FA Cup five times, the Europa League twice and the League Cup three times.

In August 2021, they won the Uefa Super Cup and they recently won their first Club World Cup, meaning the Blues have won every possible trophy under Abramovich's ownership.

Earlier in the week, Labour's Chris Bryant told MPs he had a leaked Home Office document that suggested Abramovich should not be able to base himself in the UK.

Downing Street would not be drawn on the claims about Abramovich made in the House of Commons.

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel had said on Friday there were "so many uncertainties around the situation of our club" following Russia's invasion of a neighbouring country.

The Chelsea Supporters' Trust said it was "ready to work with the trustees of the Chelsea Foundation in order to ensure the long-term interests of the club and supporters". It added: "We stand with the people of Ukraine."

Analysis

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire, The Price of Football Podcast

The words Roman Abramovich has used are not ones we would normally use from a legal perspective.

He has said he is handing across control to the club's charitable foundation so he will no longer be the person making the final decisions in regards to the transfer budget, the manager and other key elements of the club.

He does own the club. Chelsea FC is owned by a company called Fordstam, and Fordstam has borrowed £1.5bn from a company called Camberley International, which is based in the British Virgin Islands, and that company is controlled by Roman Abramovich, so it is already a fairly convoluted structure.

How the Chelsea Foundation will be funded, we are not certain.

I think Abramovich will be concerned - if the UK Government try to seize his assets then those assets would include Chelsea Football Club and that could have implications if this conflict drags on for a long period of time in terms of how the club be funded.

Clearly, there would be reluctance for it to be funded by the taxpayer.

By transferring it to the foundation, which is a charitable arm and he is not one of the trustees - although some people with long business connections are on the foundation - his legal team would be able to say Chelsea could not be seized by the government.

Hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in eastern Ukraine, the US accused Moscow and Beijing of combining to create a "profoundly illiberal" world order.

Yet State Department spokesman Ned Price also said that this was an opportunity for China to use its leverage with Russia to pull back Vladimir Putin, given the new "no limits" pact he signed with China's leader Xi Jinping on the same day as the Winter Olympic opening ceremony.

"You will have to ask the PRC whether they have used their own considerable influence with the Russian Federation to that end," Mr Price said at a press briefing.

The Ukraine-Russia crisis is posing a major challenge for China on many fronts.

The ever-closer diplomatic relationship between Russia and China could be seen at the Winter Games with Mr Putin coming to Beijing as one of only a handful of known world leaders to attend.

Significantly, Mr Putin waited until just after the Games were over to recognise the two breakaway regions of Ukraine and send in troops to back them.

In its public pronouncements, the Chinese government has urged all sides to de-escalate tensions in Ukraine.

But now that Russia has dispensed with all such restraint, where does that leave China's official position as clashes escalate?

The Chinese government thinks it cannot be seen to support war in Europe but also wants to strengthen military and strategic ties with Moscow.

Ukraine's number one trading partner is China and Beijing would ideally like to maintain good relations with Kyiv but this could be difficult to sustain when it is clearly so closely aligned with the government which is sending its troops into Ukrainian territory.

There is also the potential for trade blowback on China from Western Europe if it is judged to be backing Russia's aggression.

Furthermore, a constant refrain from China's leaders is that it does not interfere in the internal affairs of others and that other countries should not interfere in its internal affairs.

In a recent tweet, high-profile diplomat Liu Xiaoming reiterated that China had never "invaded other countries [or] engaged in proxy wars", adding that it was committed to the path of peace.

But as former US intelligence officer John Culver has posted on Twitter: "Russian annexation of portions of Ukraine, or invasion and seizure of Kiev, violate China's position that sovereignty is sacrosanct."

However, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has refused to condemn an invasion of Ukraine, or to even refer to what is happening there as an "invasion".

Mr Wang said China still recognised Ukraine as a legitimate state, but did not comment on whether Beijing would recognise breakaway republics in the east of Ukraine.

Joining the dots

For the Communist Party, what will worry it most is where that may leave its own people and their world view.

For this reason, it is manipulating and controlling talk about the Ukraine situation in the press and social media.

It wasn't going to be long before Taiwan was dragged into the mix.

The self-governing island is seen by the Party as essentially a rogue province that must be unified with the mainland.

China and Taiwan: A really simple guide

On Weibo, China's version of Twitter, Chinese nationalists have used Russia's invasion of Ukraine to call on their own nation to follow suit with comments like: "It's the best chance to take Taiwan back now!"

When the Chinese government rejected the imposition of sanctions on Russia in recent days it knew it could face similar treatment if it moves to seize Taiwan by force, in what would be a bloody, costly exercise.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing in Beijing that China has never thought that sanctions were the best way to solve problems.

A constant refrain from China's leaders is that it does not interfere in the internal affairs of others

But if Chinese citizens start joining the dots with Russia's justification for invading Ukraine and applying it to their own country, this could upend the Chinese government's entire explanation for its current borders.

Vladimir Putin says he's liberating Russian speakers inside Ukraine. What of the ethnic Mongolians, Koreans, Kyrgyz and the like who are now part of China? More potentially explosive for Beijing, what if Tibetans or Uyghurs renew calls for greater autonomy or even independence?

That this does not happen is more important to Xi Jinping's administration than anything.

Given that, you only have to look at the remarks on Chinese social media to see the direction the Party's media is driving the population in terms of the way it should view Mr Putin's moves in Eastern Europe.

The state press has its own accounts on Weibo and controls the responses to its posts about Russia and Ukraine.

Here is a flavour of the comments:

"Putin is awesome!"

"I support Russia, oppose US. That's all I wanna say."

"America always wants to create mess in the world!"

While there are also a lot of people calling for peace, posts attacking the US are being heavily promoted.

In terms of Chinese people actually questioning Russia's ambitions in Ukraine, you have to seek out individual Weibo accounts not connected to the Party media threads.

One writes: "I don't understand why so many people support Russia and Putin. Is invasion to be seen as justice? We should oppose any form of war!"

According to another: "Putin recognises the independence of Ukraine separatist regions, which is obviously interfering in the domestic affairs of another country."

And there you have it. That last post is expressing precisely the conclusion which Beijing does not want its people coming to.

It is the essence of the minefield the Chinese government is walking through.

Inside Ukraine, China's embassy has sent out a message to Chinese citizens living in the country now locked in a major war.

It has recommended that people post a Chinese flag on their car and "help one another out" while showing "China's strength".

Asked if what is occurring right now in Ukraine amounts to an invasion, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a press conference that the "historical context is complicated" and that the current situation is "caused by all kinds of factors".

There is a major upheaval unfolding in Europe. Xi Jinping has some big choices to make in terms of how his country will deal with it.

Last year, the Cabinet gave the permission to construct the main infrastructure of the Bogdkhan railway project to ‘Tavantolgoi Tumur Zam’ LLC in 2021, with plans to launch its works this spring.

The railroad will connect the stations of Maanit and Rashaant by going around the capital city on its northwest side and passing through the Chinggis Khaan International Airport area in Khushig Valley. In the framework of the project, a railroad tunnel and a large-scale bridge structure are planned to be built.

During the international scientific conference themed, ‘The Pressing Issues in Mongolia’s Railway Sector Development’, CEO of ‘Tavantolgoi Tumur Zam’ LLC N.Udaanjargal said, “The project will be constructing the first railway tunnel in the country. As corresponding studies have been completed, it has now become ready to draft detailed plans and blueprints. In Gashuunsukhait and Zuunbayan, 33 bridges were built, of which total lengths amounted to 3.7 km. As for the Bogdkhan railway project, the bridge will be built with a length of 3,280 meters at 22-39 meters of height,” and highlighted that certain technological advancements will be introduced through its construction.

With the new railroad put into operation, the time spent on stopping the traffic of road vehicles at four railroad crossings in Ulaanbaatar is estimated to be reduced by 84.8 percent from the current daily average of 230 minutes - which in turn, brings down the country’s annual fuel consumption by over MNT 4,400 million. In the 30 years of the project’s implementation, income from exports, imports, and transit transport is also expected to grow twofold by increasing from USD 34.82 million to USD 64.95 million, and accelerate trade flow.

At the scientific conference organized at the initiative of ‘Tavantolgoi Tumur Zam’ LLC, engineers and technicians involved in railroad construction and transport, and scholars and experts shared their knowledge and practices regarding international and domestic railway development. Out of about 70 presentations on railroad construction, technological upgrades in the transport sector, innovation, global trends, green development, sectoral policy, legal reforms, and the impact of the railway sector in the country’s socio-economic development, 22 presentations were selected for the conference that took place on February 25.

Mongolia isn’t just the home of Ghengis Khan and nomadic tribes who hunt with eagles. The country is fast becoming a mining powerhouse, as global players hunt for resources in the stable jurisdiction with access to Europe and China.

You may as well call it Mine-golia. Ha!

(Ed: She’s here all week…)

Seriously though, the country’s mineral wealth includes copper, coal, gold, silver, iron ore and zinc to name a few.

Mining accounts for 20% of the nation’s GDP, which has grown at an average rate of 7.2% per year since the advent of large-scale mining in 2004.

And mining accounts for around 80-90% of exports, which mostly go to China. That means companies that operate there have a strategic advantage when targeting that market.

China is the target market for most exports

Despite selling around 90% of its gold exports to Switzerland, China is still the major market for Mongolian minerals.

As of February 4-10, the country exported a total of 806,700 tons of coal, 124,500 tons of copper concentrate, as well as 165,200 tons of iron ore and concentrate from the beginning of the year.

Bituminous coal and copper concentrates accounted for 36.6% and 48.1% of total exports to China respectively, and in January alone trade with China reached US$520.4 million – which is around 47.5% of Mongolia’s total trade turnover for the month.

Coal is still a major export for now

Despite China’s ambitious goal to reduce consumption, it’s still importing a lot of coal from Mongolia currently.

Before the pandemic, Mongolia used to export over 30 million tonnes of coal annually, but last year it exported 16,138 thousand tonnes.

This sounds like its winding down, but even with the decline in the volume of mineral exports, the income from export in 2021 was equal to those of previous years because of high commodity prices.

For instance, the country exported 36.2 million tonnes of coal and earned US$2,803 million in 2018, exported 36.6 million tonnes of coal and earned US$3,079 million in 2019, and exported 28.6 million tonnes and earned US$2,127 million in 2020.

But in 2021 it exported 16,138 thousand tonnes and of coal and still earned US$2,779 million.

But copper is the main contender

The same goes with copper prices and demand: Mongolia exported 1,447 thousand tonnes of copper concentrate and ore in 2017 and earned US$1,613 million from it. Last year the country sold 1,283 thousand tonnes and earned US$2,900 million.

Plus, China is the world leader in manufacturing lithium batteries, and continues to outpace the globe in demand for EVs.

It also dominates megafactories, with 89 of 123 of the world’s megafactories in the pipeline.

And then there’s the general ESG shift in investment which some experts say will lead the shift from coal to copper.

Government building new rail infrastructure

Mongolia’s Ministry of Mining is working to entice explorers to the country by digitising the issuance of mineral exploration licences to allow companies to electronically apply and receive responses within a month.

So, it makes sense that the Government is gearing up to make exports easier, with plans to build a separate railway from the massive Tavan Tolgoi coil mine to expedite coal deliveries through the South Gobi corridor.

The commissioning of the 416km long Zuunbayan–Tavan Tolgoi Railway is expected in March 2022, and the 281km railway from Zuunbayan to Khangi\Mandal is expected to be completed in 2023 – and will remove a significant bottleneck that currently exists in the railway from Sainshand to Zamyn-Uud\Erlian.

Added to this, Chinese rail authorities intend to extend the Erlian border checkpoint after the 2022 Lunar New Year celebrations, boosting Mongolian export capacity through Zamyn-Uud.

And the Tavan Tolgoi–Gashuua Sukhait railway will be completed in July 2022, with the construction of the much shorter Gashuua Sukhait to Grants Mod railway that will deliver Mongolian coal directly into China to start May 2022.

Just last month, the Mongolian Government and the mining giant settled a long-running dispute over the $6.93 billion expansion project for the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mining project.

The Oyu Tolgoi mine is expected to be among the top five largest copper mines in the world by 2030.

Operations will soon start on the underground portion, with first production expected in the first half of 2023.

It’s expected to produce around 500,000 tonnes of copper per year on average from 2028 to 2036 from the open pit and underground, and an average of around 350,000 tonnes for a further five years, compared to 163,000 tonnes in 2021.

And it could account for as much as 30% of Mongolia’s GDP, with the Government owning 34% of the project.

Rio controls the rest through its 51% stake in Toronto-listed Turquoise Hill Resources (NYSE:TRQ) and operates the mine.

As part of the deal, Turquoise Hill will waive $2.4 billion in debt owed to it by the Mongolian government.

Interestingly, the original agreement called for the construction of a new coal-fired power plant to supply electricity to the mine, but this was back in 2009 before the ESG boom we’re seeing today. Rio says the plan is now to source wind power for the project.

Kincora Copper (ASX:KCC)

Earlier this month the $15m market cap company delivered an update on its Mongolian portfolio which highlighted several positive aspects of recent exploration in the country’s world-class porphyry region – right on China’s doorstep.

CEO Sam Spring said 2021 activities had identified a new intrusive system, Shuteen North, with initial work generating three new porphyry targets and one epithermal gold-base metal target with “significant scale potential”.

Kincora’s portfolio in total covers three large-scale and underexplored porphyry systems, and is located in the Southern Gobi copper-gold belt.

At the most advanced project – the Bronze Fox mining licence – an independently defined 1.3-1.5Mt copper metal equivalent exploration target has been defined with plans to convert this to a JORC resource.

Spring told Stockhead that Oyu Tolgoi was a good demonstration of the largely untested geological potential of the belt, but also the various significant advantages the Southern Gobi provides from an exploration and development perspective.

“For example, it only took five years for Oyu Tolgoi to go from discovery to initial production from the open pit, which is pretty remarkable, particularly relative to many other copper jurisdictions,” he explained.

“This helps demonstrate many of the favourable attributes of the Southern Gobi desert, which is sparely populated and one of the world’s fastest growing mining and infrastructure regions, noting over 27Mt of coal was exported to China in 2020.”

He also said that despite the relatively limited modern systematic exploration in the Southern Gobi, the discovery of Oyu Tolgoi, plus part development of Tsagaan Suvarga and exploration success at Kharmagtai, helps illustrate the geological prospectivity of the belt.

“It is estimated to already host over 85 million ounces of gold and over 50 million tonnes of copper,” he said.

Looking forwards, the company is planning to spin-out its Mongolian portfolio, with a larger $7.5-10m IPO (up from $5m) and subsequent listing on the ASX of Resilience Mining Mongolia (ASX:RM1).

Xanadu Mines (ASX:XAM)

In December last year the $34m market cap explorer announced it had grown its ‘Kharmagtai’ porphyry resource to a massive 3 million tonnes of copper and 8Moz of gold.

This covers only ~30% of the 8km long mineralised complex, and positions Kharmagtai as one of the largest undeveloped copper assets held by a listed junior globally, XAM says.

There are a few other things that set the project apart.

“The higher-grade zones (>0.8% CuEq) have grown from approximately 58Mt in the previous estimate to just on 100Mt with this update,” CEO Dr Andrew Stewart said.

“This could be a real game-changer for project economics, with better defined and larger high-grade zones, setting the project apart from similarly sized orebodies, with the higher-grade component potentially unlocking project scenarios that could pave the way to put Kharmagtai into production.”

“A significant increase in gold to copper ratios has resulted in a greater than 80% increase in contained gold, which means higher by-product credits that will be reflected in lower all-in sustaining costs.”

Stewart also commended the resolution between the Government and Rio and Turquoise Hill.

“This demonstrates Mongolia’s commitment to being a stable and business friendly mining jurisdiction, and it significantly reduces uncertainty for future mining projects,” he said.

Aspire Mining (ASX:AKM)

The coal explorer is looking to develop the Ovoot coking coal deposit which contains a JORC 2012 compliant total Coal Reserve of 255 Mt of high-quality (fat) coking coal.

And Aspire welcomed the recent resolution of the Oyu Tolgoi agreement and underground development approval.

The company said the circumstances of Aspire and its OCCP are vastly different to that of Rio and Turquoise.

“Nevertheless, Aspire sees this as a watershed moment in revitalising the attractiveness of Mongolia as a standout destination for foreign investment combined with its excellent geological prospectivity and its strategic location in Asia,” the company said.

The plan is to truck the coal to a company owned terminal facility in Erdenet, and then deliver to customers in China and Russia via the existing Mongolian rail network.

The $42m market cap company is also pretty happy about recent developments in Mongolia’s rail network plans, which it says will “significantly enhance the capacity of Mongolia to export to China.”

“Chinese border officials have recently been encouraging Mongolian iron ore and coal exporters to use containers through the Zamyn -Uud\Erlian border which we expect will also be extended to the Khangi\Mandal border once the railway connection has been completed,” Aspire said.

The company is also planning to export coking coal to markets accessible through the Russian rail system to the north.

by: Emma Davies

A wider array of sanctions against Russia are projected to deepen non-dollar denominated trade relations between Russia and China, according to former US trade negotiator and World Bank official with China and Russia experience, Harry Broadman.

“The problem with sanctions, especially involving an oil producer, which is what Russia is, will be leakage in the system,” Broadman said as quoted by Reuters.

“China may say, ‘We’re going to buy oil on the open market and if it’s Russian oil, so be it.’”

Since lesser punitive measures were introduced in 2014 after the reunification of the Crimea peninsula with Russia, China has reportedly emerged as its biggest export destination.

Washington and Western nations are poised to impose a wider range of economic penalties against Russia if Moscow escalates the current conflict in the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The Kremlin recognized the independence of both earlier this week.

By the follow-up decree, Putin ordered the Russian military to “secure the peace” in the newly recognized republics, which were formerly considered part of Ukraine.

The recognition prompted the White House to unleash the “first tranche” of new sanctions against Russia. On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order that is supposed to target “Russia’s elite and family members.” Biden also claimed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project “will not move forward,” and that the sanctions would help “cut off Russia’s government from Western financing” by banning trade in its sovereign debt.

Under the executive order, any institution in the Russian financial services sector is a target for further sanctions, US officials claimed, saying that over 80% of Russia’s daily foreign exchange transactions and half its trade are settled in US dollars. Biden pledged to “take robust action to make sure the pain of our sanctions is targeted at the Russian economy, not ours.”

However, several experts say that cutting the $1.5 trillion economy out of global commerce is not an easy task since Russia is among the world’s top exporters of oil, natural gas, copper, aluminum, palladium and other vital commodities.

Biden’s announcements sent oil prices to highs not seen since 2014.

Russia accounted for nearly 2% of global trade in 2020, down from 2.8% in 2013, according to World Bank data. The country’s 2020 GDP was ranked 11th globally, between Brazil and South Korea.

According to the World Bank’s World International Trade Solution database, Russia’s dependence on trade has declined over the past 20 years. Meanwhile, its export destinations have also changed. The Netherlands was the top export destination a decade ago, due to oil trade, but it has been replaced by China. Germany and Britain’s purchases from Russia have held largely steady, while Belarus’ imports have been growing.

China remains Russia’s number one supplier of imports, with mobile phones, computers, telecommunications gear, toys, textiles, clothing, and electronics parts among top categories. Its share of Russian imports has grown since 2014, while those from Germany have dropped markedly.

On February 22, Minister of Road and Transport Development L.Khaltar participated in the 84th plenary session of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's (UNECE) Inland Transport Committee, which was organized on the occasion of its 75th anniversary.

During the ministerial meeting, Minister L.Khaltar expressed Mongolia’s interests in having the flow of transportation between Asia and Europe pass through the territory of Mongolia, and becoming more active in regional and international transportation networks.

Noting that the Government of Mongolia acknowledges the crucial importance of developing multilateral transport networks, and improving transport connectivity to increase trade, he informed that the government is implementing a mid- and long-term development policy in order to accelerate the construction of infrastructure. In its framework, the Minister also mentioned some large-scale projects currently being implemented in the road and transport sector.

He then continued to say that it has become necessary to facilitate border inspections by enhancing cooperation between border checkpoints, and called for countries to accelerate the progress of establishing transport agreements and pay special attention to eliminating the current challenges being faced in conducting international transport.

Rio Tinto posted on Wednesday its best ever annual profit and a record full-year dividend of $16.8 billion, boosted by higher iron ore prices and strong demand from top consumer China.

The stellar results cap a mixed year for the world’s biggest iron ore producer, in which demand for its main product picked up as the global economy slowly recovered from the coronavirus but inflation and Chinese scrutiny of prices created headwinds.

Rio’s reputation suffered from a scandal over poor workplace culture, while Serbia shut down a lithium project, a promising growth area. On the plus side, it resolved a long-running dispute over a massive Mongolian copper-gold mining project.

The Anglo-Australian miner reported underlying earnings of $21.38 billion for the year ended Dec. 31, up 72% from a year earlier. Analysts had expected underlying earnings of $21.63 billion, according to Visible Alpha.

“Our balance sheet is the strongest it’s been for at least 15 years,” Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm told reporters after the results.

Rio Tinto declared a final special dividend of 62 cents a share and a final dividend of $4.17, higher than the year earlier final dividend of $3.09, taking its total 2021 dividend to a record $10.40 a share.

Its shares closed up 1.2% on the Australia Stock Exchange ahead of the results. But share prices were down 0.3% in London by 1042 GMT, underperforming other miners.

Rival BHP Group also declared a record dividend payout after reporting an estimate-beating first-half profit last week.

Labour shortages due to covid-19 curbs have hit Australian miners, with Rio previously forecasting weaker-than-expected iron ore shipments for 2022.

“The going gets a little harder from here, with inflation starting to push costs higher,” said Steve Clayton, fund manager at HL Select.

“We expect the payout to be lower in FY2022, reflecting less favourable operating conditions, but to still represent an attractive yield to shareholders.”

China, which accounts for more than half of Rio’s revenue, said it would prevent “excessive hoarding” of iron ore, a move analysts have said could affect the industry, though implementation details were still unclear.

Stausholm declined to comment on China’s move, saying nothing had officially been communicated yet.

Asked by analysts about big M&A opportunities, Stausholm said he would “be very cautious right now”.

He added, “…Because we are pretty high up in the cycle and I would dream about looking back one day and say that we invested counter-cyclically and making acquisitions right now could be very much pro-cyclical.”

Reviewing options

In the results statement Rio said it was committed to exploring all options in Serbia, which shut down its $2.4-billion Jadar lithium project.

It was “reviewing the legal basis of the decision”, it added, and the implications for its activities in Serbia.

“Ultimately, it is for the government of Serbia to decide whether they want to see this opportunity happening,” Stausholm told reporters. “Right now what we are offering is to have meaningful engagement with stakeholders.”

Stausholm took over the top job in the wake of a widespread backlash against the company after it blasted the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters to expand an iron ore mine.

An external review of the miner’s workplace culture released this month outlined a culture of bullying, harassment and racism, including 21 complaints of actual or attempted rape or sexual assault over the last five years.

“We have become more humble and better listeners, both internally and externally, as we extract the full learnings from Juukan Gorge,” Stausholm said.

(By Sameer Manekar, Harish Sridharan and Clara Denina; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Clarence Fernandez)

The Ministry of Health reported today that 497 СOVID-19 cases were recorded in the last 24 hours nationwide. In detail, 257 cases were reported in Ulaanbaatar city, with 240 cases in 21 provinces.

It was also reported that two COVID-19 related death have been reported in the past 24 hours, raising the country’s death toll to 2,091. Currently, there are 3,238 people are receiving hospital treatment for COVID-19 whilst 11,310 people with mild symptoms are being treated at home. Of the total patients currently undergoing treatment at hospitals, there are 894 patients in mild, 2,039 in serious, 260 in critical, and 45 in very critical conditions.

As of today, the coverage of 1st dose has reached 69.8 percent (2,271,377), 2nd dose – 66.8 percent (2,172,714), and 3rd dose or a booster shot of COVID-19 vaccines – 31.0 percent (1,021,876) of the total population. In addition, 100,226 people (3.1 percent) have received the 4th vaccine dose.

Songino Khairkhan Solar PV Park is a 12.7MW solar PV power project. It is located in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The project is currently active. It has been developed in multiple phases. Post completion of construction, the project got commissioned in November 2017.

Description

The project was developed by Farmdo and Hitachi. The project is currently owned by Farmdo.

Songino Khairkhan Solar PV Park is a ground-mounted solar project which is spread over an area of 280,000 square meters.

The project generates 18,030MWh electricity and supplies enough clean energy to power 23,000 households, offsetting 18,800t of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) a year. The project cost is $19.358m.

Development Status

The project got commissioned in November 2017.

Power Purchase Agreement

The power generated from the project is sold to Government of Mongolia under a power purchase agreement.

Contractors Involved

Jinko Solar was selected as the supplier of the PV modules for the project. The company installed 46,848 modules at the site.

About Hitachi

Hitachi Ltd (Hitachi) is a multinational company with operations in sectors such as engineering and electronics, nuclear, transportation and industrial systems. It manufactures and sells information and telecommunication systems, power systems, social infrastructure and industrial systems, construction machinery, electronic systems and equipment, automotive systems, and smart life and eco-friendly systems; and provides related solutions. The company’s products and services find application in various markets, including manufacturing, communications, finance, healthcare and life science, government, energy and transportation, distribution, industry and urban. Hitachi caters its services to global automobile, aerospace, nuclear, and computer industries. It operates through affiliates, subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures in Asia, North America and Europe. Hitachi is headquartered in Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo, Japan.

Methodology

All power projects included in this report are drawn from GlobalData’s Power Intelligence Center. The information regarding the project parameters is sourced through secondary information sources such as electric utilities, equipment manufacturers, developers, project proponent’s – news, deals and financial reporting, regulatory body, associations, government planning reports and publications. Wherever needed the information is further validated through primary from various stakeholders across the power value chain and professionals from leading players within the power sector.

(MARKET DATA)