Russia and Mongolia have adopted a declaration that sets clear targets in terms of boosting cooperation between the two countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced following talks with his Mongolian counterpart Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh.

"Mr President and I have adopted a joint political declaration as a follow-up to the Treaty on Friendly Relations and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signed in 2019," Putin said. He specified that the document "sets clear targets in terms of deepening bilateral ties in various fields of cooperation."

The Russian head of state added that the parties had prepared and planned to sign a number of intergovernmental and interagency documents covering many areas of cooperation, including the economy and trade.

According to Putin, the fact that the Mongolian president chose Russia as the destination for his first foreign visit makes it clear that Mongolia places much importance on promoting good-neighborly ties with Russia. "Certainly, we too are interested in close cooperation with our Mongolian friends," the Russian leader said, adding that 2021 marked the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Putin stressed that Russia was the first country to recognize Mongolia’s independence and since then, bilateral interaction had been progressing based on mutual respect and the willingness to take each other’s interests into account.

When speaking about economic cooperation, Putin emphasized that Russia was one of Mongolia’s major trade partners. According to him, despite the difficulties created by the coronavirus pandemic, trade between the two countries grew by 24% in the first nine months of the year. Putin also pointed to the effective work of the intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, research and technical cooperation. The Russian president noted that at a meeting in November, the commission had outlined new specific plans for cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, mining, energy, agriculture and digital technologies.

"The Ulaanbaatar Railway is quite a successful flagship joint commercial project. In the past ten years, its annual freight turnover doubled from 15 mln to 30 mln tonnes," he specified. Putin also said that in the previous years, much had been done to modernize railway tracks and ensure the company’s financial stability. "We expect that these measures will make railroad freight traffic through Mongolia even more attractive and profitable," the Russian leader stressed.

It was the final showdown, day 15 of the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament, in Japan’s Aichi prefecture. After 14 days and 14 wins for each wrestler, the title bout on July 18 was made all the more tense for its involving grand champion yokozuna Hakuho and second-ranked ozeki Terunofuji, who, after the former’s more than a decade of sumo domination, was widely seen as the next ascendant in the ancient Japanese sport.

As the gyoji (referee) assumed position inside the raised clay dohyo (ring), the two giants set their fists on the floor, and at the signal, launched their combined 340kg of muscle and fat into each other. The champion rammed his forearm into Terunofuji’s face, before the challenger manoeuvred his hand inside Hakuho’s loincloth to attempt a throw, but, drawing on his experience of 1,187 wins in 84 tournaments, the veteran unbalanced Terunofuji and with an outside arm grip sent him face first to the ground.

The entire match lasted 20 seconds. Having been defeated in several bouts in the preceding six tournaments while carrying a knee injury, this final victory before retirement served to affirm 36-year-old Hakuho’s place among the greatest of all time.

Soon after Nagoya, 29-year-old Terunofuji – with 422 wins in 63 tournaments – became the 73rd yokozuna in sumo history, a lineage that stretches back to 8th century mythology. More noteworthy, though, is the fact that this new grand champion became the fifth yokozuna born not in the Japanese archipelago, but the vast plateaus of Mongolia. Hakuho had been the fourth.

Landlocked Mongolia is a country of just 3.3 million people, but during the Naadam Festival – an annual celebration of the traditional Mongolian sports of bokh wrestling, archery and horse racing – there can be as many as 20,000 wrestlers on any given day. In 2020, there were 683 active, professional sumo wrestlers in all of Japan.

At the pinnacle of sumo culture, yokozuna are revered above all other sports icons, and even film stars. Given the deep cultural respect they command – and the astronomical fees and endorsement deals that accompany it – a sumo champion is nothing short of a hero in Japan.

Between 2007 and 2017, however, the three active yokozuna were all Mongolians. In 2007, the Japan Sumo Association, the sport’s governing body, had to cancel a fitness test for new recruits after it received zero applications, a situation that was repeated in 2018.

In fact, since 1999, only one Japanese – 1986-born Kisenosato Yutaka – has reached sumo’s highest rank. But having won his first tournament as a yokozuna in 2017, he suffered a chest muscle injury, missed eight consecutive tournaments on medical grounds, and retired in 2019.

This lack of Japanese success in the national sport defies convention in what is one of the most homogeneous countries on Earth.

In Japan, a place where being born there does not automatically confer citizenship, more than 98 per cent of the population is “native”. This is perhaps to be expected in an archipelago that remained deliberately isolated until American warships forced it to “open for trade” in the mid-19th century.

Between 1868 and 2015, just 581,000 foreigners were permitted to become citizens. To put this century and a half of immigration into perspective, in 2018 alone, 756,800 foreigners became United States citizens.

Add to this the fact birth rates in Japan have been so low for so long that more than 20 per cent of the population is now over 65 years old – and that by 2065, the roughly 125 million population is expected to decrease to 88 million – and it is hardly surprising that the concept of preservation of the national identity runs deep.

Indeed, the government has designated several masters of ancient Japanese art and craft as Living National Treasures, and funds efforts to ensure the continuation of ancient techniques, from sword-making to the fabrication of musical instruments.

How, then, in a country so protective of its hermetic cultural heritage, have high-plains farmers from Mongolia been allowed to dominate Japan’s national sport for almost two decades?

Thirty-three-year-old Gannyam Ganbold, owner of Goldish Gym in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar, is a former high-ranking competitor in both sumo and bokh wrestling. He lived in Japan from 2003 to 2006, training and competing in sumo while attending high school in Fukushima.

In 2005, he placed fifth in the high-school division of the all-Japan amateur sumo championship outside Tokyo, and like most other Mongolian sumo wrestlers, he attributes his prowess to his own native wrestling.

“Mongolian bokh champions are usually the sons of champions,” says Ganbold. “Three of the five Mongolian yokozuna were children of bokh champions. In Japan, there are children who’ve been raised with constant training for sumo, but there is a difference in strength.”

Just as highland Kenyan runners have a physio­logical advantage due to acclimatisation that allows them to absorb oxygen more efficiently at high altitudes, so, too, do Mongolian wrestlers. Combine that with a spartan lifestyle of “herding, carrying water, breaking ice and chopping wood”, and a diet of almost nothing but milk and meat, and you have all the prerequisites necessary, Ganbold says, for transforming boys into powerful wrestlers, with tremendous thighs and a huge lung capacity.

Damdinbazariin Ganbold, a Naadam title holder, refers to those born in the city as “apartment boys” who, lacking the hard work and experience of herding, would be “as weak as orphaned lambs”.

Chanko nabe: the Japanese hotpot loved by sumo wrestlers

30 Jan 2020

Health researchers may well agree on that point, having determined that due to the extreme pollution in Ulaanbaatar, city dwellers have only 40 per cent of the lung capacity of those from the countryside.

Former bokh wrestler turned mixed martial arts (MMA) coach Zorigt “Zorky” Ulaankhuu credits “the blood of the ancestors – both the legacy of Genghis Khan and the fact that many boys come from wrestling families, where even their grandfather’s grandfather was a wrestler”, for the Mongolians’ prowess.

American freestyle wrestler and judoka Colt Amborn, 37, teaches freestyle wrestling in Japan. His love of sumo, combined with years of practising Japan’s other major grappling sport, judo, has given him a keen eye when dissecting sumo matches.

He says Mongolians in judo frequently use the fireman’s carry throw, where they squat low and take the opponent over both shoulders, a technique common to Mongolian wrestling, but most Japanese “won’t do that in judo, because if you fail, the opponent winds up on top of you, and you’re trapped underneath in a horrible crucifix position”.

Similarly, Mongolians brought new techniques and skills to sumo. In 2000, the Japan Sumo Association added 12 winning techniques based on Mongolian wrestling, bringing the total to 82, the first such new additions to the sumo rule book since 1960.

About half of the techniques were based on gripping, while the others were leg sweeps or trips, especially useful for Mongolian sumo wrestlers, who are often smaller than their Japanese counterparts.

Apart from the five Mongolian grand champions, the only foreigners to have reached sumo’s highest rank have been two Americans – Akebono and Musashimaru, both Polynesians from Hawaii.

Other foreign wrestlers have reached the second highest rank of ozeki, such as Bulgarian Kotooshu Katsunori, Estonian Baruto Kaito, Georgian Tochinoshin Tsuyoshi and American Konishiki Yasokichi.

There have also been two mixed-race (hafu) ozeki: Korean-Japanese Maenoyama Taro in the 1970s and, currently, Filipino-Japanese Takayasu Akira.

Which raises the question, if being Japanese is not necessary, and, if as often seems to be the case, there are not enough Japanese interested in taking part in the sport to sustain it, then why have so few foreigners taken it up?

Long before daring to dream of becoming a yokozuna, wrestlers must survive years of training while growing up in a sumo stable. The novice’s life is an arduous, unrelenting and near-monastic one, all of which discourages Japanese youngsters from joining the sport. (For Mongolians fresh from the plains, by contrast, the relative affluence of Japanese stable life may seem like a step up.)

“Maybe there would be more foreigners in sumo if you didn’t have to invest so much time, starting at the bottom, as a trainee, living in a stable, working your way up,” says Amborn.

Perhaps American football players or Olympic free­style wrestlers could be trained to compete in sumo, he says, just as they have learned to fight in MMA, “but, they wouldn’t speak the language and wouldn’t want to live in a dormitory, doing the cooking and cleaning, and serving their seniors” for years before being allowed to compete.

Until they earn rank, by winning a honbasho, or a grand tournament, wrestlers must live in the stable, every aspect of their lives dictated by their trainers.

“Sumo is not only about winning,” says Amborn. “It’s about the culture, the tradition and the rituals.”

Culture needs evolution and revolution. Foreign wrestling techniques and mentality make the traditionalist association rethink what sumo is

Hiroyuki Imamura, a Japanese PhD candidate in cultural anthropology at Sokendai University

In the stable, the usually dozen or so young recruits wake up at 5am to do the cleaning and washing for the older wrestlers before beginning morning training. The wrestlers do not eat breakfast, so their first several hours of training are undertaken on an empty stomach.

Despite their huge bodies, they do the splits, followed by shiko, a kind of squat, where they lift one leg high in the air, allowing it to crash to the ground, before lifting the other leg and doing the same. This is repeated, over and over again, side to side, building up both muscular strength and flexibility. They spar and do push-out drills, driving into an opponent, again and again, until they collapse from exhaustion.

Skipping breakfast ensures that they do not vomit during training. The first meal of the day is usually around 11am, and the portions are superhuman. It is followed by a nap.

Such a life requires more discipline than most could bear, and extracurricular shenanigans are not tolerated. Sumo wrestlers who get caught up in scandals are suspended, as were Mongolian Harumafuji after a bar fight, and fellow countryman Asashoryu, who was repeatedly sanctioned for unsportsmanlike conduct and eventually banned from the sport after being discovered playing in a charity football game back home in Mongolia while on sick leave from the sumo circuit. In 2011, nine sumo wrestlers were forced to retire after being implicated in a match-fixing scheme.

But for those Mongolians who can hack it, sumo offers a chance at fame and riches. Coach Dandar Jamsran has sent several of his young bokh wrestlers, usually 15 or 16 years old, to Japan.

Jamsran says that in Mongolia, there is no real sumo training, but once the boys are selected, he would have the young wrestlers launch their bodies at each other, over and over again in the sumo style, to build up their thighs and backs. The youngsters would also be encouraged to begin eating as much as possible to bulk up.

“For the Mongolians,” says Jamsran, “there is the added burden of knowing they represent our country.”

Even the Mongolian yokozuna, assimilated to the point of marrying locals and some even granted Japanese citizenship, will never be truly Japanese. And there are rules in place to make sure of that, starting with allotments.

While foreign yokozuna may have saved sumo from extinction in the past two decades, each stable in the country is permitted only one foreign wrestler.

Professional sports leagues in Japan have similar restrictions: hockey teams can have only two foreign players on the ice at any one time, and the same goes for American football players on the field. Baseball teams are allowed to sign as many foreign players as they wish, but are permitted to have only four foreign players on the 25-man game roster.

The Japanese football league limits teams to four Western players on match day, though they are allowed a fifth if from another Asian country. Similarly, Japanese basketball teams are allowed a maximum of three Western players, but can sign a fourth foreign player if they are Asian.

Hiroyuki Imamura, a Japanese PhD candidate in cultural anthropology at Sokendai University, in Kanagawa prefecture, conducts research into martial arts as a part of national culture. He says that most Japanese have nothing against the Mongolians, “except fanatic nationalists or the hard right”.

The media, he adds, plays a big role in whether the Mongolian wrestlers are in or out of favour with Japanese fans. “When Asashoryu or Hakuho, ex-yokozuna, made trouble for the [Japan Sumo Association], the mass media reported it as: ‘Are Mongolian sumo wrestlers acceptable for Japanese culture? I think not!’” he says.

The sumo association was frequently unhappy with the level of emotion exhibited by some of the Mongolians. “Asashoryu often showed a deadly expression before he started fighting and his happiness at winning,” says Imamura. “For the sumo association, such an expressive champion is intolerable, because for them, the ideal yokozuna is calm, dignified and does not show his feelings.”

Before his matches, Hakuho would often display strong emotions, reflecting a fierce determination to destroy his opponent. After a win, he would allow himself a quick celebratory shout or a split second’s victory dance. When he defeated Terunofuji, Hakuho smiled broadly and punched his fist in the air.

“Culture needs evolution and revolution,” Imamura says. “Foreign wrestling techniques and mentality make the traditionalist association rethink what sumo is, in terms of techniques, philosophy and pedagogy.”

Twenty-five-year-old Mongolian Narantsogt Davaanyam – sumo name Sadanohikari Shinta – has been trying to make his way up the rankings since arriving in Japan nearly a decade ago. He feels Japanese fans “accept Mongolian yokozuna because [they] are capable and talented and did it by the rules. People who are working hard and make it up there and become champions.

“There’s no prejudice […] There are many audience and fan groups that support Mongolian or European sumo wrestlers.”

He adds: “For big fans of sumo, I think Mongolians are no problem at all. Because of Mongolians, sumo can survive as Japanese popular culture.”

BY: Antonio Graceffo is an author and economist working in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Moscow: Honorary Representative Telo Tulku Rinpoche is on a visit to Mongolia from 13th to 23rd December. The last visit to Mongolia was in the fall of 2019. Since then, there have been many changes in Mongolia in various sectors of Mongolian Life.

In 2020, Mongolia held parliament elections, and also a new President was elected in 2021 also the head of the Buddhist of Mongolia Khambo Lama Cho Gyamtso was conferred with the title of “Nomin Khambo Lama” of Mongolia. Honorary representative Telo Tulku Rinpoche was received by The Head of the Buddhist of Mongolia, Nomin Khambo lama at his cabinet. “On behalf of H.H. the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration, It is my honor to congratulate you on your new title which I am confident will bring immense benefit for the future development of your spiritual activities across Mongolia. There is no denial of the historical facts between Mongolia and Tibet. Even through difficult periods, we have stood by each other in spirit and have never forgotten the bond between the two people” Said Honorary Representative Telo Tulku Rinpoche.

In the latter part of the day, Telo Tulku Rinpoche was received by the Indian Ambassador to Mongolia, Mr. MP Singh, and Telo Tulku Rinpoche gave a briefing on Mongolia-Tibet relations and discussed future projects to be implemented and discussed. Currently, there are about 30 Tibetan living in Mongolia which consists of mostly monks from various Monasteries and traditions. A meeting was held to discuss establishing Tibetan Association. Honorary Telo Tulku Rinpoche said “The future establishment of the Tibetan Association is to sustain the unity among Tibetans living abroad as well as finding ways of how to represent the Tibet issues on a larger scale and how to proceed with the various activities as a registered entity rather than an unrecognized or unregistered organization. We all have a moral responsibility to never forget our movement for justice as well as protection of our Rights as Tibetan no matter where we live today”. Said Telo Tulku Rinpoche. Telo Tulku Rinpoche gave a briefing to the Tibetan Community about the CTA activities since the newly elected Sikyong Penpa Tsering and MP’s. The meeting was followed by a dinner hosted by the Tibetan Community.

In the coming days, Telo Tulku Rinpoche will engage in meeting with local Buddhist communities, NGO’s and various members in the academic as well members in the government.

– Report filed by OOT Moscow

The project is situated around 20 km from the Chinese-Mongolian border and close to the northern China gas transmission and distribution network.

Sydney-listed Tamaska Oil and Gas has signed an agreement to acquire Telmen Energy, which holds a 100% interest in the Gurvantes XXXV coalbed methane (CBM) project in Mongolia, it said on December 16.

The project covers an area of 8,400 km2 and is situated around 20 km from the Chinese-Mongolian border and close to the northern China gas transmission and distribution network.

Telmen is an unlisted Australian company that owns 100% of Telmen Resource, a Mongolian incorporated entity, which in turn holds a 100% interest in the Gurvantes project.

Telmen expects to start a high-impact drilling programme at the Gurvantes project in Q1 2022, Tamaska said. The first phase of the exploration programme will include the drilling of at least four fully tested cored holes where data will be gathered to confirm coal thickness, gas contents, gas composition and permeability.

The exploration programme is majority funded via a farmout agreement between Telmen and Talon Energy, another Sydney-listed company. The agreement requires Talon to spend $4.65mn to earn a 33% working interest in the production sharing contract. Telmen will remain as the operator under the terms of the farmout agreement.

A maiden independent prospective resource assessment was completed in August this year by NSAI and delivered a risked best case resource of 5.96 trillion ft3, Tamaska said.

In the first 11 months of 2021, Mongolia traded with 156 countries from all over the world, and the total trade turnover reached USD 15.0 billion, of which USD 8.8 billion were exports and USD 6.2 billion were imports. The total foreign trade turnover increased by USD 3.3 billion (27.9 percent), where exports increased by USD 2.0 billion (28.8 percent) and imports increased by USD 1.3 billion (26.6 percent) compared to the same period of the previous year.

In November 2021, exports reached USD 1.3 billion, increased by USD 182.2 million (16.2 percent) and imports reached USD 542.8 million, increased by USD 24.2 million (4.7 percent) compared to the previous month.

The foreign trade balance was in surplus of USD 2.6 billion in the first 11 months of 2021, increased by USD 673.3 million (34.2 percent) compared to the previous year. In November 2021, the trade balance surplus reached USD 763.5 million, increased by USD 158.0 million (26.1 percent) from previous month. The trade with China reached USD 9.7 billion in the first 11 months of 2021, which is 64.6 percent of the total trade turnover.

Bituminous coal and copper concentrates accounted for 31.5 percent and 38.6 percent of total exports to China, respectively, gold accounted for 98.1 percent and 65.7 percent of total export to Switzerland and the Republic of Korea.

In the first 11 months of 2021, USD 2.0 billion increase in exports from the previous year was resulted from USD 1.3 billion increase in copper concentrates and USD 608.3 million increase in coal exports.

Also, increase in export was due to rising world prices for mining products. For example, the export of copper concentrate volume is same as compared to the previous year, however the value increased by 85.5 percent compared to the previous year. In November of 2021, USD 182.2 million increase in exports from the previous month was mainly due to USD 155.6 million increase in coal exports.

In the first 11 months of 2021, 37.9 percent of the total imports were from China, 27.7 percent -- from Russia, 6.6 percent -- from Japan, 4.3 percent -- from the Republic of Korea, 3.3 percent -- from Germany and 3.1 percent -- from USA, which are accounting for 83.1 percent of the total imports.

In the first 11 months 2021, 50.8 percent of the total imports from Russia were petroleum products, 70.5 percent of the total imports from Japan -- cars, and 5.0 percent of the total imports from China -- electricity, 11.9 percent -- trucks and 83.1 percent -- imports of other products. The USD 1.3 billion increase in imports from the previous year was mainly due to USD 37.3 million increase in wheat, USD 112.5 million increase in trucks, USD 83.8 million increase in cars and USD 126.9 million increase in diesel.

Exports of mineral products, natural or cultured stones, precious metal, jewelry and textile articles products made up 96.4 percent of the total export. On the other hand, 64.3 percent of the total imports were mineral products, machinery, equipment, electric appliances, transport vehicle and its spare parts and food products.

Source: National Statistics Office

A leather processing factory with an annual capacity of one million animal skins and hides launched its operation on December 15 in Uvurkhangai aimag.

‘Skin future’ LLC, ‘Wool future’ LLC and the Mongolian Association of Leather Industry (MALI) jointly established the factory with an investment of MNT 2.7 billion.

The factory has a sewage treatment facility with a capacity of 700 cubic meters/day .

Governor of Uvurkhangai aimag A.Ishdorj said, “I am delighted that the establishment of the factory creates more than 100 jobs and gives the opportunity of increasing income to herder households while turning the devalued animal skins and hides into the value-added products and supplying it to the market.”

Global crude production is expected to drop 30% by the end of the current decade due to underinvestment in oil and gas, according to Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman.

“We’re heading toward a phase that could be dangerous if there’s not enough spending on energy,” Abdulaziz bin Salman said, as quoted by Bloomberg.

He warned that falling investment in fossil fuels could result in an “energy crisis.”

According to the official, oil output may decline by as much as 30 million barrels per day by 2030.

He urged energy corporations and investors to ignore “scary messages” about oil and gas. A similar warning was voiced by Saudi finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, is currently trying to raise its production capacity to 13 million barrels a day from 12 million by 2027. The push is out of tune with the latest call from the International Energy Agency for the cessation of new investment in fossil fuel, that comes as part of the plan to neutralize carbon emissions by 2050.

According to data tracked by the International Energy Forum, a Riyadh-based think tank, global spending on energy projects plummeted by 30% to $309 billion during pandemic-hit 2020, recovering just slightly this year.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has pledged to attend the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, making him the first major western leader to indicate his attendance.

His remarks came in a video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who said he looked forward to a "get-together".

It comes as a growing number of countries have joined a diplomatic boycott of the Games.

This is due to alleged human rights abuses in China, which Beijing denies.

"I would like to point out that we always support each other when it comes to international sports cooperation, including our position against attempts to politicise sports and the Olympic Movement," said Mr Putin in comments carried by state-owned media outlet The Global Times.

China has been accused of genocide in its repression of the predominantly Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang - an allegation it has repeatedly rejected.

China's suppression of political freedoms in Hong Kong and concerns for Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, who was not seen in public for weeks after she accused a top government official of sexual assault in November are also among the diplomatic issues that have arisen.

The US, UK and Australia and Canada have said their high-level officials will not be attending the winter Games, which will take place in February, as a result.

However, athletes from these countries will still be in attendance.

China has taken aim at countries joining the diplomatic boycott, saying they would "pay the price for their mistaken acts".

"The United States, Britain and Australia have used the Olympics platform for political manipulation," Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson at the Chinese foreign ministry, said.

On Thursday, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also added that he had no plans to attend the Games at the moment.

Russia under Mr Putin has forged extensive economic, military and scientific ties with China.

Kyrgyzstan is suing Canada’s Centerra Gold (TSX: CG) over alleged cyber-security and employee rights violations at its formerly owned Kumtor gold mine, in the latest chapter of an ongoing dispute between the parties over the expropriated asset.

The legal challenge claims that Centerra has blocked user and administrator access to Kumtor’s computers since May 2021, shortly before the government appointed a temporary external manager at the mine.

The Toronto-based miner and the Kyrgyz government have clashed over financial and environmental issues related to the mine for years. Their standoff took a turn for the worse in May, when the nation took control of the mine, alleging that Centerra was running it in a dangerous way for both the environment and nearby communities.

“Once again, it appears that the Kyrgyz government is trying to divert attention from the fact that it sent secret police to seize the Kumtor gold mine,” a spokesperson for Centerra Gold said in an emailed statement.

“As we have said previously, when government authorities confiscated computers and passwords of individual Kumtor employees, Centerra’s global IT systems restricted user access to preserve the integrity of the organization’s global IT infrastructure and its confidential information. The mine’s safety systems were not impacted,” he noted.

The company responded by suing former director Tengiz Bolturuk, a dual Canadian and Kyrgyz citizen. Centerra says the former board member secretly co-operated with Canadian and US lawyers, as well as with the government of Kyrgyzstan to stage the mine expropriation.

In late August, the miner said it had obtained photographic evidence that there are at least 40 meters of water at the bottom of the Kumtor gold mine and “abnormally” large amounts running down the pit walls, which it said could lead to catastrophic events.

Kumtor was the largest of Centerra’s gold mines, contributing with more than 50% of the company’s total output.

The operation is also crucial to Kyrgyzstan. The mine accounts for a fifth of the ex-Soviet country’s total industrial output and has produced more than 13.2 million ounces of gold between 1997 and the end of 2020. Last year’s output was slightly over 556,000 ounces.

Former President interrogated

The country is also in the midst of an investigation into alleged bribes paid by Centerra Gold to top Kyrgyz officials to obtain permits for Kumtor.

Local media reported on Wednesday that ousted first president of independent Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akaev, was brought to capital city Bishkek for the second time since August for questioning in connection with the probe into possible corruption around the mine.

The country’s Committee for National Security (UKMK) believes that Centerra paid bribes to top Kyrgyz officials, including Akaev, and two other former presidents.

The company denies the accusations and has branded the expropriation of Kumtor “wrongful and illegal.”

It has also expressed concerns about the lack of transparency of the operations at the mine since the government took control of it.

Centerra says Kumtor has underperformed the 2021 mine plan for June through September by 24%. That means the operation’s current management poured about KGS 6.2 billion ($73.5 million) less gold, based on the average gold price for the period.

At a parliamentary session on Monday, Kyrgyz Finance Minister Almaz Baketaev was unable to answer a lawmaker’s question on the amount of gold produced at Kumtor while under government control, as well as to where and for what price that gold has been sold, Radio Free Europe reported.

Local media also reported on Wednesday that, based on data provided by the country’s Ministry of Finance, revenues from the mine have decreased by KGS 2,620 billion (almost $31m), or by 27.2% so far this year, compared to 2020.

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov told reporters that he has visited the mine every month since May and that “everything is going according to plan.”

(With files from Reuters)

The Ministry of Health reported today, December 16 that 285 СOVID-19 infections and two deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours. In detail, 194 cases were reported in Ulaanbaatar city, with 86 cases in 21 provinces and 5 imported cases.

Today, the cumulative infection tally in Mongolia has increased to 387,446, with the death toll to 1,968. Currently, 2,770 people are receiving hospital treatment for COVID-19 whilst 4,601 people with mild symptoms are being treated at home.

The coverage of 1st dose has reached 69.6 percent (2,264,125), 2nd dose – 66.4 percent (2,159,483) and 3rd dose or a booster shot of COVID-19 vaccines – 26.0 percent (833,158) of the total population.