Best known as a gold miner, Fujian-based Zijin will pay cash for the 50.1% stake in Tibet Julong Copper Co Ltd, operator of the Qulong mine, one of China’s biggest copper deposits, and the Zhibula mine.

The move is aimed at boosting the company’s resource base and achieving sustainable development, Zijin, which is also a major smelter in China, the world’s top copper consumer, said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Its move to take over a large domestic mine comes as copper smelters fret over raw material supply due to coronavirus-related mine closures around the world.

Zijin is buying the stake from a number of shareholders in Tibet Julong Copper, including Zangge Holding – controlled by billionaire Xiao Yongming – which will retain 24.9% in the venture.

The Qulong mine, for which Tibet Julong’s licence runs until 2037, can produce 30 million tonnes of ore annually, the filing said, adding that the smaller Zhibula mine can produce 1.2 million tonnes a year.

Tibet Julong’s mining rights for Zhibula expire in September but it is in the process of renewing them, Zijin said.

Both mines also contain molybdenum and silver, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The sellers will be granted compensation if the Phase 2 150,000-tonne-per-day mining and ore processing project at Qulong fulfils conditions set out in the sales agreement, Zijin said in the filing, without elaborating.

(By Tom Daly; Editing by Jason Neely)

Around 1.3 million tons of pipes are meant to be used for both domestic gas routes and supplies to Russia’s trading partners. According to Russian media, some deliveries are meant for the Power of Siberia pipeline, the largest gas transmission system in Russia’s East. While the project, meant to annually deliver 38 billion cubic meters of gas to China, has been operational since the end of last year, Gazprom plans to connect one more gas field to the pipeline by the end of 2022.

While it is not clear how much of the purchases are meant for the Russian-Chinese project, part of the supplies will go to the Ukhta–Torzhok and the Bovanenkovo–Ukhta gas trunklines. The two lines are connected, with the latter conveying gas from Siberia's Yamal Peninsula into Russia’s Unified Gas Supply System. From Torzhok, gas is delivered to northwestern Russia to cover domestic demand and further into Europe.

The tender, with the starting price set at 98.4 billion rubles, is set to be finalized on June 16. According to Interfax, the pipe deal is more than twice as much as Gazprom’s previous such purchases. The previous largest deal, worth 41 billion rubles, was sealed in 2018.

Implemented in partnership with the International Republican Institute (IRI), together with the Asia Foundation (TAF) and a broad network of Mongolian civil society organizations, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) three-year democracy and governance initiative will focus on fostering citizen engagement in Mongolia’s pre-election period and supporting the Mongolian government’s efforts to promote constituent-responsive governance and political accountability during the post-election period. The project will support a range of civil society-led civic engagement activities including nationwide voter education campaigns, get-out-the-vote initiatives, youth and women policy networking events, and technical support for activists and journalists.

“Mongolia is a democracy that is home to dynamic young people and strong women leaders,” said U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia Michael Klecheski. “We are honored to support their civic engagement as we work toward our shared goals of advancing peace, democracy, and prosperity for Mongolia and for the broader Indo-Pacific region.”

IRI and TAF will work with the Voter Education Center, Zorig Foundation, and Women for Change on a series of voter education campaigns to provide reliable voter information to the public. Through a series of interactive online events, IRI will collaborate with the Liberal Women’s Brain Pool to support youth and women political engagement through non-partisan deliberation on political priorities as well as obstacles to inclusivity and accountability.

The project will coordinate with the Youth Policy Watch to organize a series of events to engage voters and raise awareness of key youth and women policy issues. It will also partner with Women for Change on a series of online advocacy training workshops and supporting Mongolia’s free press and journalists in partnership with the Globe International Center.

“Only an inclusive and responsive democracy can meet the needs of its citizens,” said Craig Castagna, IRI’s Resident Program Director for Mongolia. “IRI is proud to be working alongside USAID, the Asia Foundation, and our local partners to elevate women and youth voices and support more inclusive civic engagement.”

Following the Executive Board’s discussion of Mongolia, Mr. Mitsuhiro Furusawa, Deputy Managing Director and Chair, made the following statement:

“Mongolia has successfully avoided a domestic outbreak of COVID-19 thus far, helped by the early introduction of social distancing and tight health protocols for cross-border flows. Nonetheless, the pandemic has sharply reduced economic activity due to both the economic cost of the containment measures and the fall in external demand. There is now an urgent balance of payments need and a fiscal financing gap.

“The authorities have already taken a number of measures to limit the economic contraction and help the most vulnerable. Recent revisions to the budget allow for higher health and social spending as well as tax relief to affected households and businesses. In addition, the Bank of Mongolia has eased monetary and financial policies to help prevent a disorderly contraction in bank lending to the private sector.

“Emergency financing under the IMF’s RFI will provide much needed support to respond to the urgent balance of payments and budgetary needs. Additional assistance from development partners will be required to support the authorities’ efforts and close the financing gap. The authorities’ commitment to high standards of transparency and governance in the management of financial assistance is welcome.

“As the immediate threat to the economy subsides, it will be critical to resume key reforms begun during the recent Extended Fund Facility arrangement. These include a return to fiscal consolidation to reduce still high public debt, a more flexible exchange rate to build up foreign exchange reserves, remedying AML-CFT deficiencies, and stronger supervisory enforcement to ensure that all banks have sufficient capital.”

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In May, the BoM branches in Darkhan-Uul and Bayankhongor aimags bought 36.7 kg and 58.0 kg of precious metals respectively. The average price of BoM’s purchase of 1 gram of gold was MNT 154,048.51 in May.

The bond carries a 10.1% semi-annual coupon with an amortizing 5-year maturity. Denominated in MNT but settled in US dollars, the bond issue was underwritten by ING Bank and sold to a European asset manager. The proceeds are deployed to fund ADB’s Gender Inclusive Dairy Value Chain Project for Milko LLC in Mongolia.

“This is a milestone transaction for ADB’s local currency operations,” said ADB Treasurer Pierre Van Peteghem. “The emerging and frontier markets have come under pressure during the pandemic, therefore the ability to raise competitively priced term funding in Mongolian togrog at this time is a major achievement with tangible benefits in terms of currency risk mitigation for ADB’s borrower.”

Currency-linked bonds are important in development terms because they help plot a yield curve where government issuance is often sparse. The Mongolian domestic government bonds have maturities of up to 3 years only, and the government has not completed any new issue of MNT debt securities since September 2017, therefore ADB’s nomad bond serves as a relevant benchmark.

ADB is a regular borrower in the mainstream international bond markets but has also led issuances in developing Asian countries as part of its efforts to promote local currency bond markets as an alternative to bank lending. ADB has previously issued currency-linked bonds in Armenian dram, Georgian lari, Indian rupee, Indonesian rupiah, and Philippine peso.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.

Mongolia has exported coal worth USD 513 million or 6.3 million tons, which decreased by 2.4 times compared to the same period of the previous year. The country has exported 671 thousand barrels of oil, showing a decrease of 4 times. Fluorspar export increased slightly by 15 thousand tons, reaching 237 thousand tons.

In the first five months, Mongolia’s total export reached USD 3.37 billion, according to the statistics of the Customs General Administration.

Khatant International, a Mongolian wool processor, said clients have been cancelling order across the board. Gobi Cashmere, Mongolia’s largest fiber processor, took swift cost-saving measures as the crisis went global, cutting 10 percent of its workforce.

Currently over 40 percent of the world’s cashmere originates from Mongolia, but the country’s herders, traders and processors depend on Chinese buyers who purchase more than 80 percent of their wool for further processing into sweaters, scarves and other clothes.

The country trades approximately 265 million euros of cashmere annually, processing only 15 percent of cashmere domestically; the remaining 85 percent is exported. The primary global destination of processed cashmere is Italy.