In the first 2 months of 2022, 3943.2 thousand tons of freight were carried by railway transport, showing a decrease of 1217.8 (23.6 percent) thousand tons compared to the same period of previous year. This decrease was mainly due to 894.3 (50.2 percent) thousand tons decrease in export freight and 150.8 (7.1 percent) thousand tons decrease in domestic freight.

In February 2022, 1964.1 thousand tons of freight were carried by railway transport and decreased by 15.1 (0.8 percent) thousand tons compared to the previous month. This decrease was mainly due to 222.8 (19.1 percent) thousand tons in decrease coal and 24.8 (79.1 percent) thousand tons decrease in oil and petroleum products. In addition, 111.6 thousand passengers (in repeated counting) carried by railway transport and increased by 0.8 (0.8 percent) thousand tons compared to the previous month.

In the first 2 months of 2022, the revenue from railway transport reached MNT 91.1 billion, decreased by MNT 30.7 (25.2 percent) billion compared to the same period of previous year. This decrease was mainly due to decreases in the transportation of flours and spar concentrates and molybdenum concentrates and Iron ore.

In February 2022, the revenue from rail transport reached MNT 47.2 billion, increased by MNT 3.4 (7.6 percent) billion compared to the previous month.

Source: National Statistics Office

The latest sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus have sent global prices for fertilizer soaring to an all-time high. The two countries are major exporters of potash, critical for the global agriculture industry, which is already reeling from pandemic-related disruptions.

Last week, fertilizer prices surged nearly 10% versus the previous week, according to Green Markets North America Fertilizer Price Index, the highest price point ever recorded. The index shows current prices are 40% higher than a month ago, before Russia’s military operation in Ukraine began.

According to CRU, a UK-based commodity consultancy, prices for raw materials that make up the crop nutrient commodity market, such as ammonia, nitrogen, potash, urea, phosphates, sulphates and nitrates, saw a 30% surge since the beginning of the year, topping the levels reached during the 2008 financial crisis.

Russia and Belarus are major exporters of several critical fertilizing compounds, including urea and potash.

Nola urea is trading at a 34-year high of $880 per US ton compared to $182 recorded in 2020. Prices are up 60% since the West imposed sanctions against the two countries.

Spiking prices for fertilizers have also been exacerbated by higher costs for natural gas, a vital feedstock in producing nitrogen-based fertilizer. Energy prices have been soaring amid EU plans to cut reliance on Russian oil and gas supplies and bans imposed by the US and a couple of other countries.

The situation is also being aggravated by China’s ban on fertilizer exports, primarily nitrogen and phosphate. The measure, which expires in June, was implemented to limit the rise in domestic food prices.

Moreover, a labor dispute at Canadian Pacific Railways is expected to worsen shortages, putting additional pressure on the global logistic chains. Canada’s Nutrien, the world’s biggest fertilizer producer, said it could weather a freight shutdown lasting a few days but a longer shutdown would force it to consider slowing potash production.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization previously warned that “acute food insecurity” was plaguing dozens of countries spanning Latin America, central Africa, the Middle East, and central Asia due to conflict and erratic environmental conditions.

“Ukraine has only compounded a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe,” David M. Beasley, executive director of the UN World Food Program, told The New York Times earlier this week, adding that the current levels of food insecurity have not been seen since World War II.

Lion Copper and Gold (TSXV: LEO) announced Monday it has entered into an Option to Earn-in Agreement with Rio Tinto America to advance studies and exploration at Lion CG’s copper assets in Mason Valley, Nevada.

Under the agreement, Rio Tinto has the option to earn a 65% interest in the assets, comprising 34,494 acres of land, including the historic Yerington mine, greenfield MacArthur Project, Wassuk property, the Bear deposit, associated water rights and approximately 20 exploration targets dispersed across the company’s land package.

At the site, Rio Tinto will evaluate the potential commercial deployment of its Nuton technologies, which offer copper heap leaching technologies developed to deliver increased copper recovery from mined ore and access new sources of copper such as low-grade sulphide resources and reprocessing of stockpiles and mineralised waste.

The technologies have the potential to deliver leading environmental performance through more efficient water usage, lower carbon emissions, and the ability to reclaim mine sites by reprocessing waste, the company said.

“The agreement offers the potential to both increase the scope and scale of our development and accelerate the path to first production,” Lion CG CEO, Travis Naugle said in a media statement.

“As stewards of significant copper resources and water rights in the State of Nevada, we recognize our role in a sustainable and circular economy,” he said. “Should Rio Tinto exercise its earn-in option, we are confident that it will bring its own level of quality to progress the development of the Mining Assets towards becoming a strategic domestic copper producer with the highest ESG standards and performance.”

We look forward to continuing to advance the MacArthur Project and our other Mason Valley assets through constructive relationships with Rio Tinto, the local community, Native American Tribes, the State of Nevada and other valued stakeholders.”

In addition to advancing the MacArthur Copper Project on the basis of the recently-announced mineral resource estimate, LCG also intends to focus on resource growth by evaluating an integrated approach to expansion across the company’s asset base and land package.

Higher copper recoveries

The Nuton technology, it said, offers the potential to economically unlock low-grade sulphide resources, copper bearing waste and tailings, and achieve higher copper recoveries on oxide and transitional material, allowing for a significantly increased copper production outcome with a very low corresponding carbon footprint.

“This Agreement will allow us to explore the potential commercial deployment of our Nutoncopper leaching technologies in a historical mining district with a large copper endowment,” Rio Tinto copper chief executive Bold Baatar said. “These technologies not only offer Rio Tinto the potential to unlock additional copper, but to also deliver low carbon production with significant environmental benefits through reprocessing old stockpiles and tailings and reducing waste from new and ongoing operations.”

Rio Tinto will pay up to $4 million for an exclusive earn-in option and agreed-upon Mason Valley study and evaluation works to be completed by Lion CG no later than December 31, 2022.

LCG’s stock was up 18.75% on the news in mid-afternoon trading on the CVE. The company has a C$26.5 million market capitalization.

Today marks the 41st anniversary of the first space flight by a Mongolian. On this day in 1981, Hero of Mongolian People’s Republic, Hero of USSR Jugderdemidiin Gurragchaa along with twice Hero of USSR, Hero of Mongolian People’s Republic, Soviet cosmonaut V.A.Dzhanibekov flew into space on the Soyuz 39 spacecraft, landing back on Earth at 7.42 pm on March 30.

With this event, Mongolia became the 10th country in the world to send off a cosmonaut into space, and Mongolian cosmonaut J.Gurragchaa became the 2nd person in Asia, and the 101st person in the world to fly into space.

While in orbit, 25 types of 36 experiments and research works were carried out in the fields of medical care and biology, physics and technology, and remote sensing, which laid out the foundations for the development of space science in Mongolia.

Incidentally, a MONTSAME team of seven comprised of columnists, reporters, and photographers covered the events related the flights between 1978 and 1981 and took over 60 percent of all photographs of the space flights in Mongolia, especially those in the archives.

March 22 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's COVID-19 tally rose to 468,700 after 46 new local infections were recorded over the past 24 hours, the country's health ministry said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, no new deaths were reported in the past day, and the country's COVID-19 death toll remains at 2,108, the ministry said.

So far, 66.8 percent of the country's total population of 3.4 million has received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, 1,030,410 people have received a third dose, and 112,360 have received a fourth dose voluntarily.

Mongolians have basically returned to normal daily life due to high vaccination coverage and declining daily infections. Notably, the Asian country has resumed in-person classes for all levels of educational institutions and fully opened its borders to foreign tourists, who will not be required to have a PCR test or to quarantine.

One more country has joined the worldwide clamor to remove entry requirements in the past few days, with Mongolia now completely removing its entry rules for travelers.

In doing so, Mongolia – located in Asia – has become the 17th country around the world to remove Covid-19 related restrictions, and return to ‘normal’.

Compared to last year, 2022 has been a much brighter one for travelers, with a growing number of worldwide destinations taking steps to make it much easier for travelers to visit once again.

Located between Russia and China, Mongolia is a melting pot of culture and history that travelers heading to the country can experience at every corner of its vast expanse – and it’s suddenly become extremely easy for travelers to be able to enter.

Mongolia has now joined the ever-growing list of countries to completely remove their Covid-19 related entry requirements, making visiting the country a much more affordable and attractive proposition.

Mongolia’s government updated its entry requirements for foreign travelers on 14 March 2022, with the new rules coming to effect from that date.

The update now means that all travelers, regardless of age, vaccination status, or country of departure, will no longer have to take a PCR or rapid test to enter Mongolia – nor will they have to test upon arrival or go into quarantine or self-isolation.

The update comes just a few weeks after the country opened for the first time in two years. Of course, travelers may still have to jump through some hoops in order to visit. American travelers don’t need a visit in order to visit for less than 90 days, whilst Canadians can stay visa-free in Mongolia for up to 30 days.

Flights may also be longer than usual given the restrictions over Russian airspace as a result of their invasion of Ukraine.

With a unique value proposition to tourists, Mongolia’s tourism sector has substantial growth potential, but faces key constraints in air transport and sector coordination, according to the World Bank’s new study on Mongolia’s tourism sector.

The study, entitled Fostering Inclusive Tourism Development in the Aftermath of COVID-19, analyzes the performance of the Mongolian tourism sector, its regulatory environment, and policy options based on a data-driven economic modeling approach.

“Mongolia’s tourism sector has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and its full potential is yet to unfold. The country has an abundance of strong niche products for leisure tourism linked to its diverse nature, nomadic lifestyle, culture, and historical legacy,” – said Andrei Mikhnev, World Bank Country Manager for Mongolia. “This new study aims to help the government identify policy priorities for a more inclusive and sustainable tourism sector.”

Tourism is an important contributor to Mongolia’s economy and accounted for 7.2% of GDP, 6.8% of total exports, and 7.6% of total employment in 2019, which was the best year ever, before collapsing in 2020 due to COVID-19. Relative to comparators in Eurasia as well as to countries outside of Eurasia with similar geographic features and/or tourism offerings, Mongolia has been losing market share over the last decade. However, leisure tourism has continued to expand while business travel has declined. Leisure tourists spent less time in Mongolia comparing with similar tourist markets.

The government aims to develop sustainable and inclusive tourism and make Mongolia “the international destination for nomadic culture and tourism”. This may require prioritizing segments and markets with highest value potential before increasing the number of foreign tourist arrivals, the report points out.

The lack of resources allocated for infrastructure development and a protectionist aviation policy impede sector development, according to the enterprise survey of tourism companies conducted in the beginning of 2021. Furthermore, the tourism industry representatives acknowledged policy and sector coordination issues to be among the top issues facing the sector, including the lack of centralized marketing support, national tourism policy implementation, and coordination.

“Mongolia’s tourism sector has suffered a loss of MNT 1.5 trillion due to COVID-19 with around 1,600 companies and 88,000 jobs put in risk. We are facing an unprecedented challenge of retaining experienced professionals in the sector and minimizing the impact of the economic downturn. The comprehensive analysis—prepared by the World Bank at this critical time when we need a strategy to revive the tourism sector—will assist us in assessing the current situation and defining the appropriate measures and policy,” – said Minister of Environment and Tourism of Mongolia Mr. B. Bat-Erdene.

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / March 21, 2022 /Mongolia Growth Group Ltd. (the "Company") (TSX-V:YAK), announced today that TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") has accepted a Notice of Intention to renews its normal course issuer bid to purchase outstanding common shares of the Company on the open market in accordance with the policies of the TSXV.

Pursuant to the NCIB, (the "Bid") the Company may acquire up to 1,935,000 common shares (representing up to approximately 6.97% of the 27,778,499 common shares of the Company currently issued and outstanding, or approximately 9.99% of the 19,362,249 common shares constituting the Company's current Public Float (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) from time to time during the next 12 months. In accordance with the Policies of the Exchange, the maximum number of common shares that may be purchased under the Bid in any 30-day period may not exceed 2% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company when aggregated with all other common shares purchased under the Bid in the preceding 30 days.

The Company is undertaking the Bid because, in the opinion of its board of directors, the market price of its common shares, from time to time, may not fully reflect the underlying value of its operations and future growth prospects. The Company believes that in such circumstances, the purchase of the common shares of the Company may represent an appropriate and desirable use of the Company's funds and further enhance market stability.

The Company may, subject to market conditions, sell one or more of its investment properties to finance purchases under the Bid from time to time.

From March 18, 2021, to March 17, 2022, the Company purchased 2,250,000 of its shares at an average price of $0.76 under its most recently expired NCIB.

The Company has retained M Partners Inc. of Toronto, Ontario as its broker Member for the purposes of conducting the bid. The Bid will commence on or about March 24, 2022, and the Bid will end no later than March 23, 2023. The common shares will be purchased for cancellation on the open market through the facilities of the Exchange, at market price. This transaction is subject to the TSX Venture Exchange approval.

(This article was originally titled "Mark Johnstad" in the Oct-Dec. 2018 issue of Fly Fisherman magazine.)

The green audio waves of my recording software pitch as the fire crackles and snaps beside us. I wonder briefly how I’m going to edit out the noise, but my concerns are quickly overtaken by Mark Johnstad’s charisma and jovial smile. He finds it amusing that I’m so interested in his history; quick to derail any thorough questioning, ya-dee-ya-da’ing through his intense climactic story arc. As so many of my podcast guests do, he warns me that his story isn’t really all that interesting—that is, until we start to piece together his time line. As the wine flows and the fire spits, I get the feeling that even he can see his accomplishments are truly special.

Though technically born in Minnesota, Johnstad is from Montana. Since he was two years old, the vast and wild landscape of Montana has surged through his veins, thoughts, and fantasies. He’s the son of an outdoorsman, and hunting and fishing played a major role in his upbringing. Now, as a father himself, he passes along the same knowledge to his son, Cooper.

He has an animated way about him, though it’s hard to tell if he’s this way in the absence of children or red wine. In our short time together I’d never seen him away from either. We were on an eight-day float trip with his fishing operation Mongolia River Outfitters, and spirits were running high. The fish were biting, the weather was cooperating, and the giggles between Cooper and Dave McCoy’s young daughter, Nessa, were contagious. Occasionally I caught a glimpse of a straight-faced Johnstad speaking to conservation officers and staff, but such seriousness was brief and temporary. I had expected him to be different. Admittedly, I was guilty of assuming that a man with such impressive credentials would be a little less ... likable. He was welcoming, funny, and about as quick-witted as anyone I’d ever met.

I suppose none of this should be surprising considering the yin and yang of Johnstad’s past. At college in Minnesota, he majored in English literature and minored in Middle Eastern studies. During his sophomore year he attended school in Jerusalem, and completed his senior year at Cambridge University. After graduation, he shucked fish in Alaska, ski bummed in Vail, worked horses in New Mexico, and traveled to Central America in pursuit of untapped fisheries, but his passion for classic Montana remained the same.

After seeing the changes that were taking place in his beloved Montana, he decided to study environmental law in hopes that he might have a hand in conserving the last vestiges of the wild. Such ambitions required an advanced degree, so he enrolled in law school.

The institution and accompanying stresses of student loans and deadlines drove Johnstad to explore one final “hurrah” before committing to yet another few years of academics. A friend told him about the vast terrain of Mongolia and its undeveloped landscape that was, in many ways, similar to Montana.

It was the year after the Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet Union was collapsing, and Mongolia, though inhabited by nomads untouched by the modern era, was beginning to open up to Westerners. Johnstad dreamed of nomads untouched by the modern era, and he dreamed of riding a horse east to west across the country. He visited the library to see what he could learn, but the Iron Curtain ensured reading material was scarce.

At that time, foreigners needed an invitation from the government to be granted access, so Johnstad set up a meeting with the First Secretary of Mongolia, and secured an invitation from the Ministry of Nature and Environment in 1991.

Eager to commence his trip, Johnstad and Minister Batjargal discussed the future of Mongolia. They were aware of the potential exploitation that could ensue if they didn’t have some protective measures in place: poaching, mining, forestry, commercial development, and all exploits in between.

Mark Johnstad fell in loved with Mongolia when he rode his horse across the country on a three-and-a-half-month journey that took him to the border of Kazakhstan. (Earl Harper photo)

The Chinese aphrodisiac market had already put a dent in big-game numbers, dropping a herd of 200,000 elk to a mere 20,000 in the space of ten years. At the time, the Mongolian government already had 13 protected areas, but it was their intention to expand. Johnstad, likable, knowledgeable, and adventurous, was the perfect candidate to help them achieve this goal. They funded him to visit various parts of the country to see which parts of it should be classified as protected zones.

The fire in the ger has been stoked, and the bottle is getting low. I’ve since stopped watching my computer. I’m so enthralled by our conversation, I forget that I’m recording it all. I’d heard that Johnstad was “the guy” to talk to about the fishing industry in Mongolia, but this was next level.

I continued, “So when you came in to do all this conservation work...”

He interrupts me, “No, I came here to ride horses across the country and got looped into doing conservation work.”

Looped into it he may have been, but they sure lassoed the right cowboy. Johnstad fulfilled his dream of riding across the country, and spent three and a half months riding his horse to the border of Kazakhstan. He fished along the way. He got a job working with the United Nations and lived in Mongolia from 1993 to 1995, when his love for the country first blossomed.

Johnstad eventually finished law school and then went to work as a consultant for the UN, USAID, and the World Bank designing and implementing major conservation programs. In the late 1990s, he ended up in Africa helping local communities conserve biodiversity through sustainable tourism and resource use. The German government asked Johnstad to return to Mongolia to try and get something similar off the ground. That effort didn’t progress as Johnstad hoped, so he decided to just try it on his own.

An international rush toward mining in Mongolia brought people with loads of cash into the country. Newly rich urban Mongolians and unscrupulous foreigners with too much money—and not enough sense—took up fishing. They were killing large numbers of taimen, often with the help of local “guides” paid with a couple bottles of vodka.

Taimen simply can’t handle aggressive retention rates. They take seven years to reach sexual maturity and can live up to 50 years. In the best of times, taimen are few and far between. Rural communities and the government of Mongolia desperately wanted help.

“Taimen exist on a scale much different than your normal trout species. These are huge apex predators. They have enormous home ranges and require large, pristine watersheds to survive,” Johnstad explains.

“Taimen represent wilderness. Successfully protect taimen and you will successfully protect some of the Northern Hemisphere’s most amazing wild rivers.”

The plan? Use fly fishing as a catalyst for conservation. Johnstad teamed up with some Mongolian friends to found Mongolia River Outfitters (MRO). They started small, slowly building up the operation to gain the trust of local communities and the global market. At first, MRO was just Johnstad guiding a couple of guests supported by a skeleton camp crew. Twenty years later, MRO is now a world-class fly-fishing operation with over a dozen international and Mongolian guides.

Their float/fish programs link a complex of 28 cozy fishing camps that collectively protect nearly 625 miles of coldwater fisheries. These rivers are designated catch-and-release, fly-fishing-only with streamside setbacks, motor prohibitions, and a cap on total anglers.

MRO has partnered with The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Federation, BioRegions International, The Taimen Fund, and companies including Costa, Patagonia, Orvis, and some of the world’s most prestigious booking agencies to quietly create one of the globe’s most innovative fisheries conservation programs.

Everything MRO does is designed to incentivize community-based action. Almost all of their 60+ staff members were raised near the rivers where MRO fishes. Every one of them is now a grassroots taimen conservation advocate.

All international anglers must arrange their trips through MRO. Domestic anglers must secure a license through local fishing clubs. These same anglers who once killed taimen are now accompanied by a representative who makes sure the catch-and-release rules are followed. All the permit fees are distributed to local communities to support taimen conservation.

MRO has built shelters for staff in protected areas, helps with programs to enhance arts and culture, funds scholarships, and supports established eco-programs in local schools. MRO and their Mongolian guides also help sponsor national fly-fishing contests. And with the University of Nevada, Reno they are engaged in important taimen research, including a genetic study where our group contributed quite a few samples!

I recently watched One Path: The Race to Save Mongolia’s Giant Salmonids, a Fly Fisherman documentary. In the film, Johnstad organized a wellness clinic where angler/volunteers provided 150 children with free dental and health screenings in a single day. It’s just one example of how Johnstad’s vision always benefits the local people, who are in effect the real guardians of the river.

And his vision is already paying off. MRO’s rigorous catch records show that every year these protected rivers deliver more and bigger taimen.

“It’s definitely a work in progress,” smiles Johnstad. “But we’re getting there.”

BY: April Vokey is a former B.C. fishing guide, longtime Fly Fisherman contributor, and host of the podcast Anchored. She has a home on the Bulkley River in British Columbia.

The National Statistics Office reported that at the end of February 2022, the time deposit in domestic currency amounted to MNT 14.3 trillion. It means that it has dropped by MNT 479.5 billion (3.2 percent) from the previous month but increased by MNT 67.9 trillion (0.5 percent) from the same period of the previous year.

In terms of the type of time deposit in domestic currency, 89.8 percent (MNT 12.8 trillion) was individuals’ deposits while 10.2 percent (MNT 1.5 trillion) was deposits of enterprises.

The time deposits in foreign currency amounted to MNT 4.2 trillion, increased by MNT 134.2 billion (3.3 percent) from the previous month and decreased by MNT 273.4 billion (6.2 percent) from the same period of the previous year.