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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Events

Events

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

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COVID-19 Vaccination rollout in Mongolia www.who.int

Joint press release on COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Mongolia by the Government of Mongolia, United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office, World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Today marks a major milestone for Mongolia with the administration of its first batch of vaccine to prevent the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), beginning with the frontline health care workers at high risk. Government of Mongolia has received an initial 150000 doses of AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, produced by the Serum Institute of India, that has received Emergency Use Listing by the World Health Organization (WHO) and approval by Mongolia’s national regulatory authority. Following the arrival of further doses, other priority groups, including older people and those with health issues, which put them at higher risk for severe illness, will be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Government of Mongolia has implemented a number of preventive measures to contain the local epicenters of COVID-19 and spread of the virus. Following the first imported case reported in March 2020, the country has successfully contained the virus’ spread with no local transmissions until November 2020. When the pandemic spread amongst local communities, the Government has continued its efforts to minimize the pandemic’s impact.
The arrival of the first doses of vaccines brings hope, but other prevention measures must continue. Step-by-step vaccination of 60 percent of the population will allow citizens, businesses and organizations to return to normal life style and to this extent, revitalize the economy and thereby provide jobs and increase income.
This time, by imposing the State of All-Out-Readiness in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolians were able to contain the outbreak, limit the spread of the disease, prepare for vaccination roll-out and build the basis for the implementation of the 10 Trillion Comprehensive national plan to protect the public health and recover the economy. Prime Minister L. Oyun-Erdene said: “The State of All-Out-Readiness ends today and the curfew in the capital has been lifted. Citizens, businesses and organizations have returned to normal work and life. Twelve days, another example of how our nation can face adversity together, are behind us. I would like to express my gratitude to the residents and citizens of the Capital City, who respected and tolerated the Government's decision during the quarantine. Within the framework of "One door - One test", 33 local epicenters of coronavirus and 122 cases were identified. In other words, the risk of onward transmission through these 122 people was eliminated and a comprehensive information base for each household was created.
I would like to emphasize that ““One Door - One Test” is a baseline study for further developing a strategy of where we should go tomorrow, based on where we are now. My appreciation goes to all Government workers and employees, who have fulfilled their duty.” Further, Prime Minister has noted that time to calm down is yet to come and urged everyone to adhere to the infection control regime. He also expressed his gratitude to the Government of India, World Health Organization, UN Resident Coordinator Office and UNICEF for their support in obtaining vaccines that meet international standards, as well as the Governments of Russia, China, the European Union, Republic of Korea and Japan.
The United Nations (UN) in Mongolia, with leadership of WHO and UNICEF, is pleased to partner with the Government of Mongolia, in the successful facilitation of its national programme of vaccination against COVID-19. The UN in Mongolia thanks the people of Mongolia for their continued strong solidarity and cooperation with health authorities in implementing the prevention measures, including hand washing, mask wearing and physical distancing, and complying with other restriction measures to minimize spread of the virus.
“I want to congratulate the people of Mongolia for successfully rolling out the first COVID-19 vaccines. Ahead of us is the great challenge in ensuring “vaccines for all” is a reality. It is the UN’s conviction that fair and equitable access to vaccines, backed by well-planned and resourced supply chains, as well as distribution support, is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do,” Tapan Mishra, UN Resident Coordinator in Mongolia, said.
The global effort to develop and deploy safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines is truly unprecedented. WHO has been engaging with partners at all levels to ensure that countries, including Mongolia, are ready for the rapid deployment of vaccines, since no country is safe until people in all countries are protected. WHO supported the Government of Mongolia to prepare and submit to COVAX a sound National Vaccine Deployment Plan that demonstrates effective preparation and readiness including planning and coordination, training of healthcare workers and other front-line workers at national and sub-national level, prioritization of target populations, country cold chain capacity readiness and vaccine safety monitoring.
Congratulating the Government of Mongolia and the Minister of Health on successfully bringing the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the country, WHO Representative to Mongolia Dr Sergey Diorditsa said: “Vaccines, in combination with other protective measures, are an important new tool in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. WHO will continue supporting the country to ensure successful and equitable deployment of COVID-19 vaccines by providing technical support, capacity building with health workers, providing necessary equipment and tools to strengthen safe storage and vaccination capacity, and engaging with health workers, frontline workers and communities to ensure that they are well-informed about COVID-19 vaccines and other important prevention measures.”
Globally, UNICEF is leading the procurement and supply of COVID-19 vaccines for 171 countries including Mongolia on behalf of the COVAX Facility – a partnership between WHO, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). At country level, UNICEF is supporting the Government of Mongolia to ensure the country is ready to introduce and deploy the vaccine. UNICEF is helping to upgrade Mongolia’s capacity to safely and securely store vaccines across the country, across the country, addressing misinformation, and building trust in safe and effective vaccines and in the health systems that deliver them.
UNICEF is giving top-priority to support the COVID-19 vaccination program because although only adults will be vaccinated, children will benefit tremendously: stopping the pandemic will allow children to go fully back to kindergarten, to school, to socialize with friends and to play sports as they have seriously fallen behind in their education and social development.
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Putting Inclusiveness at the Heart of Digitalization www.mn.undp.org

The COVID-19 pandemic became an unexpected driver of digital transformation all around the world taking over and transforming many aspects of our lives by making them simpler and more accessible. People can listen to music, read books, send e-letters, go shopping, and talk to people internationally from the comfort of their homes. As one of our Accelerator Lab members puts it, world class education at the world-renowned university is now just few clicks away.
However, digitalization has its challenges related to the access, information security and privacy of data. With every internet transaction, I am giving away my personal data and, without knowledge and experience, my privacy and security might be jeopardized. On the other hand, lack of access to the digital world could further exacerbate many of our existing issues such as inequality, if not addressed properly.
UNDP understands that it should consider all complexities around the new aspects of the digital shift, by moving fast to address the development challenges, and ensuring that ‘no one is left behind.’ It is important to be mindful about the potential digital divide that prevents people from enjoying the full benefits digitalization can deliver. Hence, UNDP started its Accelerator Labs, a vast network of 92 labs working in 116 countries, to look at innovation and acceleration with a holistic approach.
Photos: UNDP/ABS Project, Zayajargal Batjargal and Tumursukh Jal
Though the digital divide is understood as a gap between those who have access to digital technologies and those who have not, it is not only about the mere absence of technology. It is also about the divergence in digital literacy – people’s ability to access, understand, and manage information through digital technologies for betterment of their lives. Often, this difference is rooted deep within existing inequalities due to location, education, and socio-economic status.
According to a study conducted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mongolian students from centrally located schools performed at least 60 points better on entrance exams than the students from schools in sub-urban and rural neighborhoods. Full shift of education to online mode since early 2020 has raised concerns of both parents and educators alike that this is creating a further educational gap with varying and unequal technological access and digital literacy, both on the part of teachers and students. Therefore, without proper structural and behavioral transformations, increased digitalization could worsen the digital exclusion and exacerbate existing inequalities.
We at UNDP Mongolia’s Accelerator Lab, are aiming to raise awareness of this divide and provide creative approaches to learn more about these fundamental shortcomings. Innovation doesn’t mean technology only. It means looking at things differently, changing the way we do things, our behaviors, and approaches. Technology is here to aid the process and help us to accelerate towards inclusive and sustainable growth, but it shouldn’t be identified as the answer to everything. We strongly believe that digitalization has an enormous potential and it will be the driving force of the future; however, our lives should not be too dependent on it.
As a part of the global learning network, Accelerator Labs draw inspiration from both local solutions and the global development trends. Contrary to project implementation, we are platforms that are managed collaboratively and horizontally, and to test innovative methods to channel people’s insights, views and actions towards complex development problems.
Empowered by our local and global perspective, we will work towards ensuring inclusiveness in digital transformation and improving digital literacy by providing human-centered insights on the issues and looking into the challenges through the eyes of those who are not benefitting from the digitalization process. Our strength and success on this journey will be highly dependent on our ability to crowdsource brilliant ideas to generate effective and collective solutions and with that we invite all interested partners to reach out and work with us to build Mongolia forward better to a more inclusive and sustainable future.
Powered by your collective intelligence and local innovations, three of us at UNDP Mongolia’s Accelerator Lab are looking forward to mapping, exploring, experimenting, and implementing uncharted and different development solutions for Mongolia.
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Can the Mighty Bankhar Dogs of Mongolia Save the Steppe? www.atlasobscura.com

ON THE MONGOLIAN STEPPE, THERE are predators, there are prey, and there are the bankhar. These large, powerful dogs weigh up to 125 pounds, with shaggy, thick coats that give them a bear-like appearance. For 15,000 years, bankhar dogs have been the guardians of the steppe.
In these grasslands, sheep and other livestock kept by traditional nomadic herders are under constant threat from wolves, eagles, and even snow leopards. For millennia, the bankhar safeguarded both animals and the family’s livelihood. In acknowledgement of their importance, bankhar dogs are the only animals that nomadic herders name. The bond is so special that herders believe humans can be reincarnated as bankhar, and bankhar as humans, another unique honor.
“What our ancestors used to tell us, and what our elders used to say to us, and what we believe in the community, is that having a bankhar is spiritually beneficial,” says traditional nomadic herder Nasantsetseg Battulga, through a translator. “There are four people in my household but, if we add our two bankhars, we consider ourselves a family of six,” she adds.
That special connection between herder and bankhar dog was nearly lost, along with the bankhar itself. Soviet-era socialist campaigns that sought to collectivize herds and encourage families into more sedentary patterns of subsistence had no place for the dogs. Let loose, exterminated, and turned into fur coats for fashionable Muscovites, the bankhar all but disappeared. The dogs survived only in isolated pockets scattered around the country.
When nomadic families began returning to their traditional way of life in the 1990s, it was without the guardian of the steppe. Without bankhar to protect livestock from wolves and other predators, herd losses increased, so the nomads began keeping more animals just to make a living. Larger herds, along with increasingly severe winter storms and temperatures, have led to extreme desertification of the steppe. Combined, these economic and ecological pressures threaten to do what the Soviets could not: wipe the nomadic traditions off the map.
Now, an ambitious project aims to return bankhar dogs to their traditional role as livestock guardians. It’s an endeavor that may also give the Mongolian steppe, and its rich cultural traditions, a chance to thrive again.
Bankhar dogs evolved in this often harsh environment. They are not a breed but a landrace, meaning they adapted over generations with little human intervention. In addition to their size, bankhar dogs have a few unique characteristics: extremely dense coats, relatively small feet that stay warmer in winter, and caloric requirements lower than that of a similarly-sized Western guardian breed, such as the Great Pyrenees.
The dogs don’t herd livestock like, say, border collies, but they do shift the animals as a group across the landscape, which reduces overgrazing. Bankhar live with, sleep with, and fiercely protect their herds; just their presence is enough to discourage most predators. When wind brings the scent of danger, bankhar dogs mark their territory, creating an invisible boundary of urine and pheromones. And they bark, a lot. An old nomadic saying, “I can’t sleep without the dog barking,” reflects the wisdom that something is surely very wrong when the dogs fall quiet.
Since the 1990s, herders without bankhar dogs have resorted to less effective tactics, such as scarecrows, lights, and guns, to keep their livestock safe. It’s a losing battle: Even with these defenses, wolves and other skilled predators can kill more than half a dozen animals a night, taking a chunk of a family’s annual income with them.
With a bankhar, everything is different. Humans, livestock, and the environment benefit. When herds become less attractive prey, there is a reduction in conflict between humans and wild animals. Less likely to be shot, predator populations stabilize, which in turn balances the steppe’s ecosystem—and may even protect species such as the critically endangered saiga antelope. Meanwhile, with livestock protected and losses minimized, a herder derives the same revenue from a smaller herd. And with fewer livestock on the landscape, the steppe recovers faster from grazing and trampling.
The only thing missing from this potential solution to many of the steppe’s problems was the dogs themselves. To that end, Bruce Elfstrom, a biologist and filmmaker with almost two decades of experience in Mongolia, launched the Mongolian Bankhar Dog Project in 2014. By breeding and distributing the dogs, he believed the initiative could help nomadic families, decrease the impact of livestock on the Mongolian steppe, and revitalize indigenous traditions disrupted during the Soviet era.
“If we can stop their animals from being preyed upon, (herders) will hedge their bets less,” Elfstrom says. “They know if they have a dog they don’t need as many animals.”
Now, with 20 genetically diverse breeding males and females at a facility outside of Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian Bankhar Dog Project is slowly rebuilding the bankhar population. On average, they distribute around 15 bankhar puppies annually. Nonprofit partners such as the World Conservation Society’s Sustainable Cashmere Project often use the gift of a bankhar to incentivize families to join and stick with projects combating desertification and protecting endangered species.
In 2020, on the southern edge of the Gobi Desert, the Mongolian Bankhar Dog Project established a new partner breeding site at the ecotourism hub Three Camel Lodge to better engage with herders in the region. “We were so familiar with the families in the Gobi and the need around us, it just made sense,” says Undraa Buyannemekh, president of Three Camel Lodge’s sister company Nomadic Expeditions.
In December, Three Camel Lodge had their first bankhar litter. Soon after birth, the pups were placed in a large fenced enclosure with sheep and goats to begin learning their life’s work. Those that are successful students will be placed with families at around five months of age. It’s not nearly enough to meet demand, but it’s a start. “We could breed 10,000 of these (dogs) a year and still give them all away,” Elfstrom says.
The project’s results so far are impressive. Since receiving her dogs Hotoch and Bankhar in 2018, Battulga hasn’t lost a single animal from her thousand-head herd to predators. Khishigtogtokh Budsuren, a candidate for the one of the Three Camel Lodge puppies, is hoping for a similar outcome. Wolves have killed so many of his sheep, goats, horses, and cows that he’s lost count.
“It will be really helpful to protect the livestock and it will help us in our everyday labor. We could leave the bankhar dog with the herd and it will protect them,” Budsuren said through a translator, via email.
In time, the hope is that the bankhar dog population will rebound to the point where a formal breeding project is no longer needed. Instead, herders will exchange animals, and knowledge about them, among themselves, as their ancestors did for millennia.
“The knowledge to train these dogs can only be passed by practice and by doing it,” says Buyannemekh. “And that’s the best way probably, making sure that cultural expression is being sustained for future generations.”
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Mongolia logs 32 new COVID-19 cases www.xinhuanet.com

Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia reported 32 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections to 2,755, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Wednesday.
The latest cases were detected in the country's capital Ulan Bator, the NCCD said in a statement.
Over 75 percent of the total patients in the country have recovered from the disease, the center said.
The Asian country has recorded six COVID-19-related deaths since it confirmed its first case in March last year.
Mongolia plans to vaccinate at least 60 percent of its 3.3 million population against COVID-19, and 20 percent of them will be covered by COVAX, a global initiative for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, according to the country's health ministry. Enditem
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Belarus to supply equipment necessary for spring crop planting www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry, Mongolian co-chair of Mongolia-Belarus Intergovernmental Commission for trade, economic, scientific, and technical cooperation Z.Mendsaikhan held an online meeting with Minister of Industry of the Republic of Belarus, Belarusian co-chair of the commission Parkhomchik Petr Aleksandrovich.
They underscored that Mongolia-Belarus relations and cooperation have been expanding thanks to the five projects being co-implemented under the intergovernmental general agreement on export loan: i) tractors and other agricultural equipment and machinery supply; ii) intensive dairy farm development; iii) improvement of disaster response equipment for emergency management department ; iv) supply of road maintenance vehicles manufactured by Minsk Automobile Plant; and v) Ulaanbaatar city public housing elevator renovation.
Local herders and farmers have been using MTZ-80 tractors manufactured in Belarus, which played an important role in the development of farming in Mongolia, since the Soviet era. Mongolia will receive the EUR 4.5 million worth of equipment and machinery from Belarus as part of the tractors and other agricultural equipment and machinery supply project and Minister Z.Mendsaikhan requested to supply the equipment and machinery before the 2021 spring crop planting begins.
Around two third of the 71 pieces of equipment of 14 types, which are also being supplied as part of the project on supply of fire-fighting equipment and machinery for Mongolia’s National Emergency Management Agency, have been handed over and efforts are underway to supply the rest shortly.
The Ministers agreed to dispatch a Belarusian expert team to Mongolia in the near future in connection with the project on the development of intensive dairy farm in Mongolia to be implemented in Selenge, Darkhan-Uul, and Tuv aimags.
Both parties expressed their willingness to expand bilateral relations and cooperation not only as part of the general export loan program, but also in other areas and to focus on the implementation of the Roadmap for development of Mongolia-Belarus cooperation in 2019-2021, signed in June 2019.
Moreover, during the meeting, a provisional decision was made to hold the sixth meeting of the intergovernmental commission in Minsk, Belarus, in the third quarter of 2021.
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Working group to negotiate deal with Oyu Tolgoi's investor meets www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. A working group responsible for conducting negotiations with Oyu Tolgoi project’s investor side to agree on project issues and submitting the finalization on concerning matters to the cabinet meeting convened yesterday, February 23, at the State House.
The meeting heard the position of Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene on issues to take under further consideration. The working group plans to present the matter to the cabinet meeting by mid-March, according to the Press Office of the Cabinet Secretariat.
The group in charge of implementing the parliamentary resolution No.92 dated November 21, 2019 titled ‘ensuring the interests of Mongolia in the exploitation of the Oyu Tolgoi gold-copper mine’ and having talks with Oyu Tolgoi’s investors and agree on related matters and present the final version to the government is headed by Minister of Justice Kh.Nyambaatar and is made up of the Chief of Staff of the Office of the President of Mongolia, member of the Parliament, corresponding government ministries and officers.
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PM L.Oyun-Erdene: Giving out loans with 3 percent interest will greatly support business owners www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Yesterday on February 23, Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene became acquainted with the operations of entities that have resumed normal operations after getting the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine - ‘AstraZeneca’.
With the end of the public emergency readiness period, 95 percent of all entities have been allowed to operate, adhering to the infection control regime. Thus as starters, the PM became acquainted with operations at the State Department Store.
During the lockdown period, only the supermarket section of the department store continued to operate per the duty to consistently supply food products. As an average of 25 thousand people make their purchases at the supermarket per day, all necessary tools and equipment including digital thermometers and disinfection cabins have been installed at the store entrance. Furthermore, staff members have been appointed to monitor the flow of customers, ensuring their adherence to infection control measures.
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Copper price soars past $9,000 in record run www.mining.com

Copper kept its momentous run going on Monday, now closing in on an all-time high set in 2011, as investors bet that supply tightness will increase as the world recovers from the covid-19 pandemic.

March contracts rose 1.0% to $4.1155 per pound ($9,073.13 per tonne) by 11:45 a.m. in New York, leading a broad rally in commodities that saw the bellwether industrial metal rise 17% year-to-date.

Since its nadir last March, copper prices have nearly doubled, boosted by rapidly tightening physical markets, prospects for rebounding economic growth and the expectation that a years-long era of low inflation in key economies may be ending.

Click here for an interactive chart of copper prices.

Investors are also piling into copper on a bet that demand will surge in the coming years, as governments worldwide unleash unprecedented stimulus programs targeting renewable energy and electric vehicles, which will require huge volumes of the metal.

“The list of bullish factors for copper is extremely long,” Max Layton, head of EMEA commodities research at Citigroup Inc., told Bloomberg by phone, adding that:

“A lot of the most bullish developments are really going to play out in the next few months, and therefore we think it’s going to be sooner rather than later that it gets to $10,000.”

In some areas of the physical copper market, supply conditions are at the tightest in years and may come under even more pressure as smelters in top consumer China face shrinking profit margins for processing raw ore into refined metal.

Copper treatment charges, an indicator of refining margins, are at $45.50 a tonne, the lowest since 2012. One leading supplier is considering cutting output, in a potential blow to buyers, Bloomberg reported.

Surging prices have given miners a boost, driving up stock prices and raising the prospect of more returns to shareholders. Some of the top copper stocks have risen by double digits over the past month.

Jiangxi Copper, China’s top producer, gained as much as 20% in Hong Kong to the highest level since 2012, while US producer Freeport-McMoRan closed last week the highest since 2014.

(With files from Bloomberg)

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Banned for decades, ancient Mongolian sport of knucklebone making a comeback www.cbc.ca

Winter is a difficult time for many, particularly during a pandemic. Cool with Cold is a CBC Ottawa series highlighting people who've found creative ways to embrace the season, safely.
Bundled up against the winter chill on a backyard rink, Zolzaya Sanjmyatav demonstrates the proper technique for throwing a zakh down the ice, just like her Mongolian ancestors did for centuries — only in this case, the zakh is a plastic hockey puck, an alteration she calls a "Canadian adjustment."
Sanjmyatav grew up in Mongolia's coldest city, Tosontsengel, in the northwest province of Zavkhan, where she played many of the same winter sports as Canadians.
"In Mongolia we do skating, skiing and sledding like in Canada. But one of the very unique sports that we play during the winter is knucklebone," said Sanjmyatav.
Sanjmyatav went online to study the rules so she could teach her children Sodbileg,13, Sainbileg, 10 and Uranbileg, 8, how to play.
Now, as a diplomat in charge of culture, sport and political affairs at the Embassy of Mongolia in Ottawa, she said she's excited to share the finer points of knucklebone with Canadians.
Rules of the game
Similar to curling, "knucklebone ice shooting" takes place on a sheet of ice, as its full name suggests. Players take turns sliding the zakh, traditionally made of metal or carved deer antler, toward targets set out 100 metres away, though the distance can be shortened depending on the length of the ice surface at hand.
Sanjmyatav uses real cow and sheep knucklebones painted bright red for extra visibility. Players score points for each sheep knucklebone they hit, and three points for the larger cow knucklebone in the centre.
The scoring system reflects the country's religious history. For every point earned, players draw one line of a temple on a sheet of paper. The first team to complete a temple wins.
"It's very much connected to our Buddhist religion," explained Sanjmyatav.
Sanjmyatav said after the Soviet Union established the Mongolian People's Republic, the game of knucklebone was outlawed.
"From 1924 to the 1990s, the socialist regime banned many cultural and religious activities," she said.
After the fall of the Soviet-backed government in 1990, there was a resurgence of Buddhism. Mongolians began reconnecting with their culture, including traditional games.
"It's like finding a treasure. We didn't know that this sport existed," said Sanjmyatav.
Now, the Mongolian Knucklebone Association is working to establish the game as an official winter sport in Mongolia, organizing annual championships across the country.
To keep score, players draw lines to create an image of a Buddhist temple. The first team to complete a temple wins. (Francis Ferland/CBC)
Played by Genghis Khan
According to Mongolian historians, knucklebone was first documented in the 12th-century literary text The Secret History of the Mongols, an epic that chronicles the life of conqueror Genghis Khan. In the book, Khan plays knucklebone with his friend Jamukha on a frozen river.
Originally played to strengthen hunters' eyesight so they could spot animals from far away, the goal of the game changed in the 17th century when Buddhist monks took it up to improve their mental and physical health.
"The [monks] said that the air on the river is the purest, so it's one of the reasons they played," said Sanjmyatav.
Sanjmyatav's husband Togtokhbayar (Togy) Batpurev shows the proper technique for launching the zakh — in this case, a plastic hockey puck. (Francis Ferland/CBC)
Sanjmyatav said the game has taken on a new meaning for families whose usual winter activities have been curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic, including her own.
"I was amazed at how well-structured and sophisticated this game was, that was invented hundreds of years ago. But it still has so many mental, social and physical benefits for the well-being of kids," she said.
And it's been a fun way to help her family rediscover their roots, too.
"I have this sense of responsibility to teach them their heritage cultures so they know who they are," Sanjmyatav said.
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30 new cases of COVID-19 reported, total reaches 2,723 www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Ministry of Health provided updates on coronavirus situation in Mongolia. According to the Ministry, 30 people were detected with coronavirus when performing tests on 42,920 people nationwide on February 22.
Thus, confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Mongolia have reached 2,723. 70 people have recovered and discharged from hospital yesterday, bringing the number of recovered people at 2,003. A total registered cases in Ulaanbaatar city has reached 1,882 and no infection cases have been reported in other aimags.
Currently, 705 people are under treatment and two of them in very critical, six are in critical, 84 are in serious and 598 are in mild health condition.
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