Mongolia has confirmed 32 new cases of coronavirus, all but one from the localized outbreak at Ulaanbaatar’s Bayanzurkh District General Hospital; the single casewas a passenger from Frankfurt flight.

So far, Mongolia has 993 confirmed cases of coronavirus; 531 of them are locally transmitted.

Furthermore, six Mongolian provinces where the coronavirus infection had initially spread when the fist local transmissions occurred, are now considered to have taken full control of the situation as there had been no new cases in 10-18 days.

As of today, Ulaanbaatar has 206 confirmed cases of coronavirus, there have been 216 in Selenge Province, 45 in Darkhan-Uul Province, 32 in Dornogobi, 25 Orkhon, four in Gobisumber and three in Arkhangai provinces.

Seafarers stuck for months on vessels carrying Australian coal off China’s coast are trapped between authorities who won’t let them unload their cargoes and buyers who won’t let them leave.

Worsening relations between Beijing and Canberra have stranded 74 vessels, about 8.1 million tons of coal, and an estimated 1,480 mariners off Chinese ports, according to an analysis of shipping data by Bloomberg. The original charterer of two of the vessels wants them to sail somewhere else to relieve the exhausted seafarers, but so far the traders who own the cargo won’t agree.

“It’s the end receiver who has not given the green light” for the Jag Anand vessel to sail to another country where it could change crews, said Jan Dieleman, the president of Cargill Inc.’s ocean transportation business. The Minneapolis-based company is the original charterer of that ship and the Navios Coral vessel, which have both been moored off the port of Jingtang since June, waiting to discharge their loads of Australian coal.

The Jag Anand’s crew told port authorities it was ready to unload when it arrived and the holder of the bill of lading has said the ship must discharge its cargo before departing, according to Dieleman. He declined to identify the end receiver of the cargo, but said that if the ship attempted to depart for another country to swap crews without their approval, the vessel could be arrested and seafarers imprisoned.

“We want to get these people not just off the ship, we want to get them home,” said Dieleman.

Tangshan Baichi Trading Co. is the receiver of the coal on the two vessels, although the firm could have subsequently resold the cargoes to other end users, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The company is the region’s biggest coal importer and owns three coal washers, a coking plant and has an investment unit focused on domestic coal and coke futures, according to its website.

Calls to the company’s office in Tangshan city went unanswered. China’s General Administration of Customs didn’t immediately respond to faxed questions.

Covid-19 controls

Some of the stranded mariners are growing desperate. China has halted most crew changes to stop the spread of covid-19, and some of seafarers have worked nearly 20 months without a break, according to the National Union of Seafarers of India.

On the Anastasia, another stranded vessel, four crew members are on suicide watch, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald. The crew of the Jag Anand appealed for help in a photo distributed by the National Union of Seafarers of India, holding up hand-written signs with messages like “negotiate with charterer” and “our lives are important than your cargo.”

Relations between Australia and China have steadily deteriorated this year, with Beijing putting tariffs on imports of barley and wine and also informally restricting imports of coal. The state-run newspaper Global Times has reported that the government economic planner had appeared to formalize that ban, allowing power plants to import coal without restriction unless it was from Australia.

Diverting ships to relieve mariners often comes down to costs, according to Carl Schou, chief executive officer of Wilhelmsen Ship Management, which is in charge of operations for three ships that are waiting off Chinese ports. In some cases, ship owners are resistant to divert ships to change exhausted crews.

“Diverting a ship from China to wherever does cost a lot of money and somebody has to pay for that,” he said. “There is a discussion who should pay for that — the owner, the charterer — should it be a split cost? Not many owners are willing to take such a cost right now.”

When asked last month about a ship stranded off of Jingtang, China’s foreign ministry blamed a freight forwarder for refusing to let the vessel depart.

Several vessels stranded for months recently discharged their shipments of Australian coal, according to data intelligence firm Kpler, although its unclear if the deliveries have cleared customs or if the shipments are being held in bonded storage.

Other cargo owners appear to have sold their coal shipments outside China. The Aquaknight and GH Harmony vessels, which waited outside Bao’an Shenzhen and Caofeidian ports since August and October without discharging their shipments, recently signaled they were headed to Vietnam and Japan, according to Kpler.

But shipments of Australian coal continue to move to China. Earlier this month, the Jin Lang vessel departed from the Hay Point terminal in Queensland into the open seas. Its current destination? The port of Zhanjiang in China.

(By Aaron Clark, Kevin Varley and Ann Koh, with assistance from Alfred Cang, Matt Turner, Winnie Zhu and Martin Ritchie)

A new report by Fitch Solutions forecasts global copper mine production to increase by an average annual rate of 3.7% over 2021-2029, with total output rising from 21.5mnt to 27.8mnt over the same period.

Year-on-year, the market analyst sees production of the red metal expanding 6.9% as a result of multiple new projects coming online and low-base effects due to covid-19 lockdowns reducing output in 2020.

Spence Growth Option project is expected to deliver first production between December 2020 and March 2021. The operation is projected to increase payable copper production by 185kt per annum once ramped up.

Fitch’s forecast also takes into consideration the return of most workers to the Escondida mine, although BHP has already said that output will be lower than usual through the 2022 fiscal year as a result of the reduced workforce levels.

“However, the return of workers will boost copper output back into normal range, which the firm is holding at roughly 1,200kt per annum on average,” the report reads. “Furthermore, depending on when the Spence Growth Option project mentioned earlier ultimately begins production and can ramp up to its full run rate, we expect it will also contribute positively to 2022 growth.”

The analyst points out that the copper forecast is also counting on Lundin Mining (TSX: LUG) being able to reach an amicable solution with its Chilean unions by year-end and, thus, not impacting production for 2021.

Lundin projects copper mine production at Candelaria to range between 185kt and 195kt in 2021, which is up from the 142kt produced in 2019 and is slated to be higher than what is produced in 2020.

According to Fitch, growth following 2021 will benefit from the delayed project ramp-ups such as Teck Resources’ Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 project, which is expected to begin production over the second half of 2022.

Project development had been delayed by five-to-six months due to the covid-19 pandemic but has since restarted, and the company now estimates copper production over the first five years will average 286kt per annum.

All of these developments led Fitch to revise up its 2022 and 2023 forecasts to 4% and 3.2% respectively from 2.9% and 1.9% previously.

When it comes to Peru, the world’s no. 2 copper producer, Fitch expects its outlook for copper mine production to bounce back strongly in 2021, growing by 20% y-o-y, as a result of strong low-base effects and new projects coming online.

CHINESE INVESTMENT WILL PLAY AN INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT ROLE IN PERU’S COPPER SECTOR

The Andean country currently has 48 mining projects at different stages of development and another 54 exploration projects.

“Peru is tied for second for the world’s largest copper reserves at 87mnt as of 2019, 10% of known reserves,” the report reads. “We believe Chinese investment will play an increasingly important role in Peru’s copper sector. Miners are seeking to diversify their supply chain to compensate for Chinese domestic consumption being greater than their supply.”

Based on official information, Peru is expected to see $10.2 billion invested in five mining projects over the next decade by Chinese firms.

China and the DRC

Within China, copper production is expected to increase at an average rate of 1.5% per annum over 2021-2029, compared with an average growth rate of 4.6% over the past 10-year period.

The market analyst says that this slowdown in production growth will be driven by closures of low-grade copper mines and delayed planned capacity expansions.

Despite this outlook, domestic copper production is expected to be positive as new projects come online and the Asian country develops foreign assets to improve its resource security.

“Chinese copper miners will remain committed to investing in copper deposits abroad to secure access to high-grade, low-cost material,” Fitch states. “For instance, in October 2019, Zijin Mining announced that it would spend $146 million to increase its interest in Ivanhoe Mining. The purchase will make Zijin the second-largest shareholder in the company developing the Kamoa-Kakula copper mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

Kamoa-Kakula, on the other hand, is set to be one of the largest contributors to growth within the DRC’s copper sector, whose production is expected to grow 12% y-o-y in 2021, following a 3.5% contraction in 2020.

The prediction is based on the fact that, in August, Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) reported that the development of the Kakula copper mine had been progressing ahead of schedule, with the firm expecting to achieve first copper concentrate in Q321.

This and other projects, together with steady output from China Moly’s Tenke Fungurume mine and Glencore’s (LON: GLEN) Katanga mine, are the foundations of Fitch’s forecast, which takes into account Glencore’s decision to idle the Mutanda copper-cobalt mine from 2020 to 2022.

New York (CNN Business)What started off as a meme-inspired parody cryptocurrency has now become the center of a series of tweets in a bitcoin sound-off from Elon Musk.

The Tesla (TSLA) CEO tweeted some Bitcoin banter Sunday, included calling bitcoin BS. He shouted out Dogecoin in a tweet saying, "One Word: Doge."

The tweet sent shares of Dogecoin up nearly 20% and landed it on the list of trending Twitter topics. The tech billionaire even went as far as updating his Twitter bio with the title "Former CEO of Dogecoin."

Musk's Twitter antics come as the dominant cryptocurrency surged to all-time highs during the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, bitcoin skyrocketed past the $20,000 mark -- topping $24,000 -- as the currency continues to grow in popularity among investors.

This isn't the first time Musk has tweeted about Dogecoin, the bitcoin descendant. '

The SpaceX CEO mentioned the digital coin in July when he tweeted "It's inevitable" with an image depicting the dogecoin standard engulfing the global financial system. The tweet sent shares up 14% at the time.

Dogecoin was created in 2014 as a parody to a popular internet meme "doge", which involved a picture of a Shiba Inu dog. Although the virtual coin started off as a joke, it currently has a market value of nearly $570 million.

Two students at Liaoning University from Mongolia offered to make a special dish for a doctor in Shenyang who joined the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak in Central China's Hubei province. The food was prepared earlier with mutton donated by the Mongolia government.

"We want to present our highest respect," said Ariunjargal Gerelbat. "A friend in need is a friend indeed. China provides all-round help for my motherland in the battle with virus. Now I would like to express my gratitude with delicious food."

During the epidemic, China deployed supplies to assist the Mongolian government in fighting against the disease. The Mongolian government and people were so grateful that they promised to send sheep to China as a gift. The mutton arrived recently and was distributed to medics and other people working on the front line in the fight against the pandemic.

Ariunjargal Gerelbat and Daramzagd Galbadrakh decided to cook Mongolian-style mutton for Hu Weina, a doctor from the No 4 Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University who joined the fight against COVID-19 in Hubei province.

"The epidemic has been brought under control and life returns to normal thanks to the selfless efforts of many medical workers like Dr Hu. I feel very close to Hu, who I regard as my sister," Daramzagd Galbadrakh said.

In the kitchen of Hu's home, the two students worked with Hu and the aroma of milk tea and stewed mutton filled the room.

Chen Mo contributed to the story.

Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE:RIO) outlined on Friday how it plans to start production from the underground section of the vast Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia by October 2022.

The company said mining at the new section of the mine, set to become the world’s fourth-largest copper operation by 2030, would be done by sections — Panel 0, Panel 1 and Panel 2.

Production will start at Panel 0, Rio said, adding than Panels 1 and 2 will boost output to the proposed 95,000 tonnes of ore per day. The last two phases, however, are subject to further studies with initial recommendations expected by mid-2021.

The update follows Rio’s announcement on Wednesday, when it said the “definitive estimate” budget for the expansion would be $6.75 billion ($9 billion). This meant the project cost went up by $1.45 billion.

The company, which on Thursday named finance head Jakob Stausholm as its next chief executive, also said this week that sustainable first production would be achieved in October 2022. This is almost 22 months later than originally expected, when the project was launched in 2015.

The news came more than two years after the company first said the project was not moving according to plan because of weaker than expected geology and project management issues.

The announcement failed to provide straightforward information on its dealings with the Mongolian government. It also lacked clarity around the ongoing legal spat with its subsidiary Turquoise Hill (TSX, NYSE: TRQ), which launched in November arbitration proceedings against the mining giant to get clarity on the terms of its financing.

Rio is at odds with Turquoise Hill on how to cover a $3 billion funding gap. It wants to use a mixture of debt, equity and reprofiling of loans, while the Canadian miner favours a package that does not include a sale of new shares.

Minority investors in Turquoise Hill, including US hedge fund Pentwater Capital, oppose Rio’s attempts to force the Vancouver-based miner to conduct an equity raise.

They claim there are “much cheaper and more advantageous financing options” available to the company, such as streaming and bond financing.

They also worry about Rio growing its stake in Turquoise Hill through such an equity raising. Investors based this argument on the expectation that Rio would underwrite any shortfall created by minority Turquoise Hill shareholders who do not participate in the raising.

Mongolia’s reaction

Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi LLC, the Mongolian state-owned company that owns a third of the mine, reacted to the new timeline and budget by saying that Rio had not delivered on its 2015 promises.

“While we continue to review, at a preliminary level, due to the significant increases in development and sustaining capital as well as operating costs which are further exacerbated by the schedule delays, it appears that the economics of the project expected to be delivered to direct equity holders have diminished substantially,” Erdenes said in a statement.

Erdenes’ interest in Oyu Tolgoi is technically held through a 34% in a Mongolian company called Oyu Tolgoi LLC. The remaining stake belongs to Canada’s Turquoise Hill Resources (TSX, NYSE: TRQ), which is 50.79% owned by Rio.

”This is of great concern to us and further indicates that the management team of Oyu Tolgoi LLC delivered negative financial value to its shareholders over the last 5 years,” Erdenes said.

Mongolia requested in November an independent review of the cost blowout and delays at the project, with results expected in early 2021.

A tax dispute between the state and the various foreign investors in Oyu Tolgoi, including Rio Tinto, is currently waiting for a United Nations arbitration decision.

The government has complained about overruns in the past. A group of legislators recommended last year a review of the 2009 deal that launched construction of the mine. It also advised revoking a 2015 agreement allowing for the now ongoing underground expansion.

The parliament ended up approving a resolution in December 2019, which reconfirmed the validity of all the Oyu Tolgoi mine-related agreements. The decision brought an 18-month-long review to a close.

Rio 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.

The head of Europe's aviation safety agency, EASA, has told the BBC he is "certain" Boeing's 737 Max is now safe to fly.

Executive Director Patrick Ky said his organisation had "left no stone unturned" in its review of the aircraft and its analysis of design changes made by the manufacturer.

The plane was grounded in March 2019.

That was after it was involved in two catastrophic accidents, in which a total of 346 people died.

It has already been cleared to resume flights in the US and Brazil. EASA expects to give permission for it to return to service in Europe in mid-January.

The plane's first accident occurred in October 2018, when a Lion Air jet came down in the sea off Indonesia.

New software

The second involved an Ethiopian Airlines version that crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, just four months later.

Both have been attributed to flawed flight control software, which became active at the wrong time and prompted the aircraft to go into a catastrophic dive.

Since the Ethiopian crash, EASA has been carrying out a root-and-branch review of the 737 Max's design, independently from a similar process undertaken by the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The review, says Mr Ky, went well beyond the immediate causes of the two accidents and the modifications proposed by Boeing.

"We went further and reviewed all the flight controls, all the machinery of the aircraft", he explains.

The aim, he says, was to look at anything which could cause a critical failure.

In order to return to service, existing planes will now have to be equipped with new computer software, as well as undergoing changes to their wiring and cockpit instrumentation.

'Confident' of safety

Pilots will need to undergo mandatory training, and each plane will have to undergo a test flight to ensure the changes have been carried out correctly.

US regulators have set out similar conditions.

As a result, Mr Ky insists, "We are very confident that it is now a very safe aircraft."

Most of the initial safety certification work on the 737 Max was carried out by the FAA, and simply endorsed by EASA under the terms of a long-standing international agreement.

But with the FAA now facing intense criticism for allowing an apparently flawed aircraft into service, Mr Ky says in future, things will be done differently.

"What is certain is that there were lessons learned from this, which will trigger new actions from our side", he explains.

In particular, where EASA is not the primary authority carrying out safety work, it will examine other people's decisions much more closely.

"We will perform our own safety assessment, which is going to be much more comprehensive than it used to be", he says.

But have regulators lost credibility and public confidence since the disasters?

"I hope not", says Mr Ky. "I think we have made a lot of progress in assessing what went wrong and what can be made better

"I hope the public trusts in us when we say we think, we are certain, that the aircraft is safe to fly".

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. It has become possible to treat stones in the kidney and urinary tract using laser treatment in Mongolia. At the initiation of Rotary Club of Khuree, laser equipment worth USD 227.8 thousand has been presented to the Urology and Andrology Department of the State Central First Hospital on December 17.

The Urology and Andrology Department is a crucial unit that offers its services on the national level. Some 3,000 patients are treated at the department annually, with about 800 surgeries.

During the launching ceremony for the laser treatment, Minister of Health T.Munkhsaikhan said, “The Urology and Andrology Department of the State Central First Hospital is a department that offers its services to many patients. Thus, I must express my gratitude to the Rotary Club of Khuree for creating the opportunity for the hospital to provide the required health care assistance and services for citizens. The Government of Mongolia and the Ministry of Health are working towards the objective of improving the health care services provided for citizens, including the introduction of new diagnosis and treatment services that are not offered in Mongolia. In the future, we aim to introduce the laser treatment to other central hospitals as well as in rural areas of the country.”

Project initiator, former president of the Rotary Club of Khuree D.Tuul said, “The Rotary Club has successfully implemented various projects in the health care sector. In the past 10 years, many projects have been implemented nationwide, such as the projects on the diagnosis of skin diseases with the use of smartphone application and the introduction of surgical laser equipment at the Ear, Nose, and Throat Department of the National Center for Maternal and Child Health.”

Poland will reopen its embassy in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar in January 2021, the Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau announced on Thursday. Mr Rau said the decision was an important step in tightening relations between the two countries.

Also on Thursday, the Mongolian ambassador to Poland, H.E.Dorj Barkhas, was informed about the reopening of the Ulaanbaatar embassy at a meeting with Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz, Foreign Service Head Andrzej Papierz and Polish Ambassador to Mongolia, H.E. Krzysztof Bojko.

The Polish embassy in Ulaanbaatar was closed in 2009.