1 MONGOLIA MARKS CENTENNIAL WITH A NEW COURSE FOR CHANGE WWW.EASTASIAFORUM.ORG PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      2 E-MART OPENS FIFTH STORE IN ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA, TARGETING K-FOOD CRAZE WWW.BIZ.CHOSUN.COM PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      3 JAPAN AND MONGOLIA FORGE HISTORIC DEFENSE PACT UNDER THIRD NEIGHBOR STRATEGY WWW.ARMYRECOGNITION.COM  PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      4 CENTRAL BANK LOWERS ECONOMIC GROWTH FORECAST TO 5.2% WWW.UBPOST.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      5 L. OYUN-ERDENE: EVERY CITIZEN WILL RECEIVE 350,000 MNT IN DIVIDENDS WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      6 THE BILL TO ELIMINATE THE QUOTA FOR FOREIGN WORKERS IN MONGOLIA HAS BEEN SUBMITTED WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      7 THE SECOND NATIONAL ONCOLOGY CENTER TO BE CONSTRUCTED IN ULAANBAATAR WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/20      8 GREEN BOND ISSUED FOR WASTE RECYCLING WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      9 BAGANUUR 50 MW BATTERY STORAGE POWER STATION SUPPLIES ENERGY TO CENTRAL SYSTEM WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      10 THE PENSION AMOUNT INCREASED BY SIX PERCENT WWW.GOGO.MN PUBLISHED:2024/12/19      КОКС ХИМИЙН ҮЙЛДВЭРИЙН БҮТЭЭН БАЙГУУЛАЛТЫГ ИРЭХ ОНЫ ХОЁРДУГААР УЛИРАЛД ЭХЛҮҮЛНЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     "ЭРДЭНЭС ТАВАНТОЛГОЙ” ХК-ИЙН ХУВЬЦАА ЭЗЭМШИГЧ ИРГЭН БҮРД 135 МЯНГАН ТӨГРӨГ ӨНӨӨДӨР ОЛГОНО WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     ХУРИМТЛАЛЫН САНГИЙН ОРЛОГО 2040 ОНД 38 ИХ НАЯДАД ХҮРЭХ ТӨСӨӨЛӨЛ ГАРСАН WWW.NEWS.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ЭРДЭНЭС ОЮУ ТОЛГОЙ” ХХК-ИАС ХЭРЛЭН ТООНО ТӨСЛИЙГ ӨМНӨГОВЬ АЙМАГТ ТАНИЛЦУУЛЛАА WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     Л.ОЮУН-ЭРДЭНЭ: ХУРИМТЛАЛЫН САНГААС НЭГ ИРГЭНД 135 МЯНГАН ТӨГРӨГИЙН ХАДГАЛАМЖ ҮҮСЛЭЭ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ENTRÉE RESOURCES” 2 ЖИЛ ГАРУЙ ҮРГЭЛЖИЛСЭН АРБИТРЫН МАРГААНД ЯЛАЛТ БАЙГУУЛАВ WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     “ORANO MINING”-ИЙН ГЭРЭЭ БОЛОН ГАШУУНСУХАЙТ-ГАНЦМОД БООМТЫН ТӨСЛИЙН АСУУДЛААР ЗАСГИЙН ГАЗАР ХУРАЛДАЖ БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/20     АЖИЛЧДЫН САРЫН ГОЛЧ ЦАЛИН III УЛИРЛЫН БАЙДЛААР ₮2 САЯ ОРЧИМ БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19     PROGRESSIVE EQUITY RESEARCH: 2025 ОН “PETRO MATAD” КОМПАНИД ЭЭЛТЭЙ БАЙХААР БАЙНА WWW.BLOOMBERGTV.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19     2026 ОНЫГ ДУУСТАЛ ГАДААД АЖИЛТНЫ ТОО, ХУВЬ ХЭМЖЭЭГ ХЯЗГААРЛАХГҮЙ БАЙХ ХУУЛИЙН ТӨСӨЛ ӨРГӨН МЭДҮҮЛЭВ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2024/12/19    

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

NEWS

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Wool and cashmere factories commit to sustainable textile production www.montsame.mn

A total of 18 national textile industries have joined to a Voluntary Code of Practice (VCP) for Mongolian sustainable textile production, agreeing for an environmentally-friendly, socially sound, and economically viable production.
The Voluntary Code of Practice aims to enhance and ensure a strong sustainability profile of the Mongolian wool and cashmere industry, allowing for better recognition in the global wool and cashmere market and increased sales due to a sustainability performance that stands out against ordinary textiles. Thus, it has importance to enhance their access to European and other global markets which are increasingly demanding sustainable textile goods.
Voluntary Code of Practice for Mongolian sustainable textile production is the first step of the Mongolian wool and cashmere industry towards the achievement of an internationally acknowledged sustainability standard allowing credible communication of their sustainability performance. It acts as a national benchmark of sustainable production for the Mongolian wool and cashmere processing enterprises.
VCP is composed of a set of criteria that the companies need to meet in order to apply for and to become qualified for higher-level recognition and internationally accredited certifications. Compliance with the VCP’s criteria will enable the Mongolian wool and cashmere industry to demonstrate their engagement towards the demands for sustainable production and reports to the customers about their positive changes of environmental and social profile.
Through Voluntary Code of Practice for Mongolian sustainable textile production the signatory parties will contribute to reducing the environmental and social impact of wool and cashmere production and increase competitiveness of the sector in comparison with not sustainably produced wool and cashmere products. This initial collaboration will allow the goals to be reached rapidly, cost-effectively and at greater scale than by working alone.
The Voluntary Code of Practice for Mongolian sustainable textile production was elaborated within Sustainable textile production and Eco labelling project, implemented by the AVSF Mongolia with financial support from the European Union, and is as a result of an extensive collaboration of key sectoral stakeholders, including the Mongolian wool and cashmere Association and German Center for sustainable consumption and production.
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Turquoise Hill’s Oyu Tolgoi declares force majeure on some Chinese contracts www.reuters.com

Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd said on Tuesday its Oyu Tolgoi mining unit in Mongolia declared force majeure on some Chinese contracts, after shipments to China were suspended due to covid-19 related restrictions.
The force majeure compounds problems at one of the world’s largest copper-gold-silver mine Oyu Tolgoi, which is already at the center of a protracted dispute between Turquoise and its top shareholder, Rio Tinto, over funding for the underground expansion of the mine.
Force majeure refers to unexpected external circumstances that prevent a party to a contract from meeting its obligations.
Rio owns 51% of Turquoise Hill, which owns 66% of the Oyu Tolgoi mine. The rest of the mine is owned by the government of Mongolia.
The force majeure is related to coronavirus-related restrictions at the Chinese-Mongolian border crossings, Turquoise Hill said on Tuesday, adding that it was working with Chinese officials to resume the shipments of copper concentrates to its Chinese customers.
Turquoise said that Oyu Tolgoi also confirmed two cases of covid-19 at the site that were managed in compliance with public health guidelines. It also said it has completed over 9,700 PCT tests at the site that have all confirmed negative.
Underground work at the mine was halted for the testing, while ongoing travel restrictions hit people’s movement from Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar to the mine site, Turquoise said, adding Oyu Tolgoi is developing contingency plans to mitigate related risk.
Open pit mining continues to operate uninterrupted at Oyu Tolgoi, Turquoise Hill said.
(By Shariq Khan and Arathy S Nair; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
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Russia joins global hydrogen race with planned exports to Asia www.rt.com

Russian energy giant Gazprom is planning to start hydrogen exports to China, South Korea and Japan, the company’s First Deputy Oleg Aksyutin wrote in his column in the latest issue of business and science magazine Energy Policy.
According to the senior manager, the shipments of hydrogen could be supplied to Asia by rail, road and water.
“Production of hydrogen in the Russian Far East […] with subsequent export of it to such consumers as Japan, South Korea and China, is of particular interest,” Aksyutin wrote.
He added that the procedures for transporting the raw material to Asia requires an appropriate legal framework concerning taxation and customs regulation, as well as the development of logistics infrastructure.
“In the short-term, Russia and its Asian partners should develop cooperation on exchange of technologies for hydrogen transportation, and for fixation, storage and usage of carbon dioxide,” Aksyutin said, stressing that, on the medium- and long-term horizon, export supplies of hydrogen are possible if there’s commercial demand among potential importers.
Last year, the government included hydrogen energy in Russia’s energy strategy. According to the document, the country is planning to export 200,000 tons of hydrogen by 2024, and to increase supplies to two million tons by 2035.
Exports of Russian hydrogen to Japan are currently under the control of Russian state-run corporation Rosatom. In September 2019, Rusatom Overseas, the company’s subsidiary, and Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, signed an agreement to export hydrogen from Russia to Japan.
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China boycotts are a warning to Western brands www.cnn.com

London (CNN Business)Companies including H&M, Nike (NKE), Adidas (ADDDF) and Burberry (BBRYF) have been caught in the middle of a political firestorm in China — spooking investors that keep close tabs on a key market.
What's happening: The retailers face boycotts because of stands they've taken in the past against the alleged use of forced labor to produce cotton in China's western region of Xinjiang.
Dozens of Chinese celebrities have terminated contracts or said they'll cut ties with the brands, while H&M, the world's second largest clothing retailer, has been pulled from major e-commerce sites.
H&M and Nike are facing a boycott in China over Xinjiang cotton statements
H&M and Nike are facing a boycott in China over Xinjiang cotton statements
Investor insight: Nike shares tumbled more than 3% Thursday on Wall Street, while Adidas sank more than 6% in Frankfurt. In London, Burberry lost more than 4%. H&M's stock also slid nearly 2% in Sweden.
The outrage was triggered by a social media post from a group linked to the ruling Communist Party, which resurfaced a statement H&M made in September about reports of forced labor in Xinjiang. State media has since targeted other major brands that have previously spoken out.
Human rights groups have repeatedly accused Beijing of detaining Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in "re-education" camps where they're forced to make products that find their way into global tech and retail supply chains.
Recent sanctions from the United States and other Western countries over Xinjiang have sparked renewed pushback from the Chinese government, which calls the camps "vocational training centers" designed to combat poverty and religious extremism.
Blowback in China against companies that have spoken out on Xinjiang may pass, according to Bernstein analyst Aneesha Sherman. Shares of H&M rose 1% in early trading Friday, while Nike's stock is up roughly 1.5% in premarket trading.
But the episode is a reminder of the challenges Western brands face as they court the immense spending power of Chinese consumers.
"It's a tough position to manage, because they can't really back down on their [stances], but at the same time they want to make sure they don't abandon the Chinese customer," Sherman told me.
China accounted for roughly 5% of H&M's sales in 2019. Sherman estimates that figure grew to about 10% in 2020, as China's economy recovered faster from coronavirus than its home market of Europe.
"In a year like this, even taking a 5% haircut off the top line is a big hit when H&M is trying to recover," Sherman said.
Luxury brands like Burberry are even more exposed, she added. Burberry listed "any significant change to Chinese consumer spending habits" as a key risk to sales in its most recent annual report.
Big picture: The US-China tensions that gained prominence during the Trump era haven't gone away, with the Biden administration and allies taking a hard line with Beijing. That creates challenges for Western companies that operate in the Chinese market.
"It does affect these brands," Sherman said. Plus, weeks like this only strengthen the hand of local competitors, which are more tapped in to regional tastes and can avoid politically-generated controversy, she noted.
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Ferocious sandstorm blankets Beijing again, yellow warning issued www.globaltimes.cn

A sandstorm from outside northern China has enveloped Beijing, 13 days after the Chinese capital was hit by the largest sandstorm in a decade, but is lower in intensity and smaller in scope than last time as shelterbelts in Inner Mongolia helped reduce the amount of dust and prevented sand from drifting in.
There were few pedestrians and vehicles on Beijing’s roads, due to low visibility. The Air Quality Index reached the severest pollution level and visibility in the city dropped to one kilometer or worse.
China’s Central Meteorological Observatory activated yellow sandstorm warnings Saturday morning, forecasting that the strong sandstorm will impact more than 15 regions in northern China due to strong winds.
Analysts said that the reason why sandstorms frequently hit Beijing and sweep across China is that continuous dry climate in Mongolia and northwestern China tends to loosen soil, which forms sand and dust easily following the development of air convection and the exchange of air flows.
However, this wave of sandstorms is lower in intensity and smaller in scope as shelterbelts in Inner Mongolia have reduced the amount of dust and prevented sand from drifting, analysts said.
The sandstorm was also accompanied by ferocious winds. The city has experienced gusts of force 7 to 8, and gusts in mountainous areas soared to levels of force 8 to 10.
The visibility in Beijing ranged from 1 to 2 kilometers, and below 1 kilometer in some parts of the districts of Tongzhou and Fangzhou in Daxing.
The wave of strong sand and dust will last about12 hours from morning until nightfall Sunday, equivalent to the duration of the sandstorm that hit the city on March 15.
The temperature in Mongolia and northwestern China was significantly higher, the precipitation was lower and the surface had gradually thawed, making it easier for dust particles to drift, analysts said.
But unlike the last strong sandstorm which drifted to some provinces in South China, this wave of sandstorm has carried sands from the western and central parts of Inner Mongolia, coming with lower intensity and impacted a smaller area due to the protection from shelterbelts there, said Wang Gengchen, a research fellow at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Wang explained to the Global Times on Sunday that as some sand sources were from Inner Mongolia, shelterbelts have reduced the amount of dust and prevented sand from drifting, making the intensity of sand and dust lower than last time, adding that this sandstorm will not sweep central and southern China like the last wave did.
Experts said shelterbelts will reduce the amount of dust within the shelterbelt area, preventing sand from drifting, but it cannot stop remote desert and Gobi areas with forestation projects from having sand dust.
However, experts said that fundamentally overcoming dusty weather lies in global cooperation on prevention and control of sand sources, as expanding desertification in Mongolia and elsewhere will result in sand drifting into China’s territory whipped up by strong winds.
Satellite cloud pictures showed a large area of sand and dust starting to appear in Mongolia Saturday morning due to the impact of the Mongolian cyclone, and the air quality (AQI) of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, has deteriorated.
Global Times
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Beijing enveloped in hazardous sandstorm, second time in two weeks www.reuters.com

BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese capital Beijing woke on Sunday morning shrouded in thick dust carrying extremely high levels of hazardous particles, as a second sandstorm in two weeks hit the city due to winds from drought-hit Mongolia and northwestern China.
Visibility in the city was reduced, with the tops of some skyscrapers obscured by the sandstorm, and pedestrians were forced to cover their eyes as gusts of dust swept through the streets.
“It’s quite serious today. There’s always a day or two like this (of pollution or dust) each month,” said Mr. Fan, 39, who did not wish to disclose his full name.
Beijing’s official air quality index reached a maximum level of 500 on Sunday morning, with floating particles known as PM10 surpassing 2,000 micrograms per cubic metre in some districts.
Readings of smaller PM2.5 particles were above 300 micrograms per cubic metre, far higher than China’s standard of 35 micrograms.
PM2.5 particles are especially harmful because they are very tiny and can enter the bloodstream, while PM10 is a larger particle that can enter the lungs.
The China Meteorological Administration issued a yellow alert on Friday, warning that a sandstorm was spreading from Mongolia into northern Chinese provinces including Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Liaoning and Hebei, which surrounds Beijing.
The meteorological office said the recent sandstorms to hit Beijing originated from Mongolia, where relatively warmer temperature this spring and reduced rain resulted in larger areas of bare earth, creating favorable conditions for sandstorms.
Beijing might face more sandstorms in April due to the unfavorable weather this year, the meteorological office said.
Reporting by Sophie Yu, Judy Hua and Martin Pollard; Editing by Michael Perry
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Mongolia logs 321 new COVID-19 cases, total tops 7,000 www.xinhuanet.com

Mongolia reported 321 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, raising the nationwide count to 7,014, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Sunday.
Meanwhile, 104 more patients have recovered and were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total recoveries to 4,341, the center said.
The Asian country has registered 10 COVID-19-related deaths so far since its first case was confirmed in March 2020.
The country launched a national vaccination campaign in late February, with the aim of vaccinating at least 60 percent of its 3.3 million population. More than 276,000 people have been vaccinated so far, according to the health ministry.
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Mongolian judoka M.Urantsetseg grabs gold at Tbilisi Grand Slam www.montsame.mn

Mongolian judoka M.Uransetseg has won the gold medal from the women’s 48 kg weight class at the Tbilisi Grand Slam 2021, winning two Grand Slam tournaments back-to-back. A total of 464 judokas are participating in the IJF Grand Slam tournament, which is being organized in Tbilisi, Georgia from March 26 to March 28.
Following a first-round bye, she defeated Italian judoka Sofia Petitto with an ippon at 1:30 minutes in Round 2. While she won against Romanian judoka Monica Ungureanu with a joint locking technique at 2:58 minutes in her next match, she defeated Slovenian judoka Marusa Stangar with another ippon at 2:50 in the semi-finals.
In the final match, she faced off against Italian judoka Francesca Milani, coming out victorious by forcing a submission.
Moreover, IM G.Kherlen won the bronze medal from the men’s 66 kg weight class on the first day of the tournament. With a first-round bye in Pool C, he defeated British judoka Michael Fryer and Georgian judoka Beka Tsifiani through penalties.
While he won his next match against Russian judoka Mikhail Puliaev with a waza-ari in overtime, he was defeated by Uzbekistani judoka Sardor Nurillaev through penalties.
In his final match in the tournament, he faced off against Georgian judoka Bagrati Niniashvili, coming out on top with an ippon winning him the bronze medal. With this, IM G.Kherlen gains 500 points in the World Ranking List, climbing up to 4th place.
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Class action against Rio Tinto over Oyu Tolgoi escalates www.mining.com

A new claim filed in a US court on Thursday over Rio Tinto’s (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO) handling of the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine expansion in Mongolia alleges the mining giant concealed the real cause of the delays that have held back its most important growth project.
In a 163-page claim filed in New York, Pentwater Capital Management — the second-largest shareholder in Rio-controlled Turquoise Hill (TSX, NYSE: TRQ) — has included the testimony of 12 individuals who worked for Rio or its contractors and which could tip the balance against the miner.
The document cites defective Chinese steel, incompetent engineering and poor procurement as some of the “true” reasons behind the mine expansion’s massive cost increase and delays.
The new claim expands upon the initial class action lodged late last year, which accused Rio of being too slow in telling investors of the cost and schedule blowouts.
Both Rio Tinto and Turquoise Hill have largely blamed the setbacks to the late realization that the project’s geology was weaker than first thought and needing a change of technical approach.
The complaint quotes a former employee described as a “top manager” who worked at Oyu Tolgoi from 2013 to 2019 for mining contractor Redpath, saying the notion that geological issues were the primary cause of the delays was “one hundred per cent pure horseshit”.
“The project was being delayed because of engineering and execution. There may have been some pockets of bad ground, but that’s expected in any mine,” the amended claim quotes.
A second Red Path project manager said the steel required for the main shaft at the underground mine was “consistently subpar, had structural defects and issues with fabrication, including steel parts not being made to specifications, had poor joints, and was otherwise unusable and dangerous.”
In its filling, Pentwater claims the oversights effectively forced managers to rebuild much of Shaft 2 from scratch. The task, the complaint says, required workers to replace more than 40,000 bolts and about 95% of the steel in the shaft’s headframe, predictably causing costs and schedule delays “to skyrocket.”
The activist investor argues that despite being informed of ongoing issues with the project throughout 2017 and 2018, Rio and Turquoise kept telling investors the expansion was on track for a capital cost of $5.3 billion and would achieve first production in the first quarter of 2021.
It was not until July 2019 that Rio Tinto and Turquoise Hill announced the project would require an additional $1.2bn to $1.9bn in capital and was 16 to 30 months behind schedule.
“Ultimately, Turquoise Hill investors incurred massive losses as Turquoise Hill shares lost well over 70% of their value when the true extent of the delays and cost overruns at Oyu Tolgoi came to light,” the document reads.
Never-ending troubles
Mounting investor activism is just one of the may headaches Rio Tinto has had while building what would rank as one of the world’s three largest copper mines when operating at full tilt. Full production is now expected to be by 2025 at the earliest, with first output planned for October 2022.
There was also an open dispute between Rio and Turquoise Hill over funding the expansion’s cost increase. The row began heating up in early November when Turquoise Hill launched arbitration proceedings against Rio Tinto to get clarity on the issue and ended up costing the Canadian miner’s CEO, Ulf Quellmann, his job.
Pentwater’s fresh claims come as Rio’s new copper boss Bold Baatar holds crucial talks with the Mongolian government over Oyu Tolgoi’s future.
The company has repeatedly said the underground expansion is its most important growth project. Once completed, Oyu Tolgoi will churn out 480,000 tonnes of copper a year from 2028 to 2036. This would make it the biggest new copper mine to come on stream in several years.
Rio Tinto owns the mine through its majority stake in Turquoise Hill, which has a 66% interest in Oyu Tolgoi. The Mongolian state has the remaining 34% of the operation, located in the South Gobi desert near the border with China.
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Talks with Rio Tinto on Oyu Tolgoi project to launch next week www.montsame.mn

Minister of Justice and Home Affairs Kh.Nyambaatar, who is heading the working group established by the Prime Minister of Mongolia to hold negotiations on Oyu Tolgoi issues, has delivered an update on the Oyu Tolgoi project matters. He reported that official talks between the working group and Rio Tinto company delegates will officially begin next week.
According to him, draft guideline to the official talks sets out three stages of the negotiations on issues surrounding the Oyu Tolgoi project.
Firstly, the sides will discuss about the termination of the Oyu Tolgoi’s underground development plan. Rio Tinto has been declining to accept the Tax Act of more than MNT 1 trillion and initiated an arbitration proceeding at the London Court of International Arbitration with the government of Mongolia as a defendant. Rio Tinto has paid over MNT 650 billion to Mongolia under the Tax Act by the General Taxation Authority of Mongolia. In connection with this, the second stage of the talks are planned to touch on issues about the tax act and tax disputes.
The Government of Mongolia and Rio Tinto have signed 15 agreements and contracts since 2009. Revision of those documents to make the project mutually beneficial would be the agenda of the third stage of the talks.
Minister Nyambaatar said “The working group will convene on Saturday this week (March 27, 2021) to agree on its position for the upcoming talks with Rio Tinto, and also the draft guideline to the talks will be presented early next week to an irregular cabinet meeting for government approval.”
Initial cost estimates of the Oyu Tolgoi underground development plan were approved at USD5.3 billion. Unfortunately, this cost was increased by USD 1.4 billion, reaching USD 6.75 billion, and the date when the first underground production to be achieved was extended by 22 months from the first estimation of January 2021, as notified by the investor to the Mongolian government.
As a result, the amount of taxes and dividend payment that Mongolia to receive is likely to decline. As explained by Rio Tinto, the cost overrun and schedule delay are caused by the geological conditions that had been worsened. However, the Mongolian government had been carefully studying to explore about the causes, which are probably flaws in the project management and procurement activities, and sent an official letter to Rio Tinto in November 2020.
A suggestion has been made to conduct an independent review of the causes of the cost overruns and delays to the underground development, and according to which, the Oyu Tolgoi’s board resolved to establish a special committee to protect the interests of minority shareholders in the project, which include the government of Mongolia and minority shareholders of Turquoise Hill Resources.
"The government of Mongolia and minority shareholders of Turquoise Hill Resources have appointed working teams to have experts investigated if there are any wrongdoings in the Oyu Tolgoi project’s management and procurement and to give assignments to the experts.
Minister Nyambaatar further informed that some minority shareholders of Turquoise Hill Resources have filed a claim to a New York court that Rio Tinto has disclosed the actual causes of the cost overruns and included testimonies of 12 former employees of the Oyu Tolgoi project. Some of the witness statements claim that Rio Tinto was actually aware of the geology and geological conditions of the Oyu Tolgoi project back in 2012 and argue that associating geological difficulties as the cause of the overruns is false.
According to Nyambaatar, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom have launched an investigation on the claim that the investor may have failed to timely provide and has concealed the information that could affect the stock prices, violating related regulations.
“The government is working with these organizations and exchanging information. If the claim that the investor is responsible for the underground project’s cost overrun and delay is proven to be true, an issue of holding them accountable will arise.” said Nyambaatar. “The investigation by the corresponding authorities in the U.S. and the UK, who are seeking to protect the interest of minority shareholders, will result in a decision that is favorable to the government of Mongolia” he emphasized.
Ch.Ariunbold
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