Ulaanbaatar heating system to be improved www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ At its regular meeting on December 18, the Cabinet approved the draft special loan agreement on the Ulaanbaatar District Heating Project to be implemented under the General Financing Agreement between the Government of Mongolia and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Crude oil production equals 6.39 million barrels in 2019 www.zgm.mn

As of December 4, 2019, Mongolia has extracted a total of 6.39 million barrels, or 867,100 tons, of crude oil, according to the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry. Of these, 6.09 million barrels, or 827,700 tons, were exported to China, earning MNT 210.2 billion. Mongolia plans to extract a total of 8.15 million barrels, or 1.1 million tons, of crude oil this year, which would contribute MNT 335.6 billion to the state budget. Therefore, the country has so far implemented 78.5 percent of its extraction plan and 74.8 percent of its export plan. Currently, there is no oil refinery in Mongolia. The country’s first oil refinery is under construction in the southeastern province of Dornogovi, with an expected date of commissioning in late 2022.

ETT chooses two more foreign banks to advise on IPO www.zgm.mn

Еrdenes Tavan Tolgoi JSC (ETT)’s work to launch its IPO on the Hong \Kong Stock Exchange (HKE) is ongoing and additional banks in charge of IPO issuance have been selected, according to the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The IPO of ETT will be listed in London and HKE. The selected banks, namely Merrill Lynch and Swiss Multinational investment bank Credit Suisse have been announced in earlier November. Thus, Nomura, the Japanese financial services group has been chosen along with BOC International, IFC reported. The aforementioned three banks have been chosen out of 25 international banks in which the Government sent invitations. Furthermore, Linklaters, a multinational law firm headquartered in London, has been selected to provide legal assistance. ETT is ramping up work on a planned Hong Kong initial public offering that is expected to raise more than USD 1 billion. Bank of America, Credit Suisse, and Nomura banks will play a key role in the issuance of IPO, said Sumyabazar Dolgorsuren, Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry. Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi JSC is a Mongolian state­-owned company that holds mining licenses to the Tavantolgoi coal deposit which is regarded as one of the largest and high­-quality coking coal deposits in the world, located in the southern Gobi region of Mongolia, approximately 540 km south of Ulaanbaatar. IPOs in Hong Kong have raised USD 20.4 billion this year, down from USD 32.7 billion during the same period in 2018, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. A successful listing of Tavan Tolgoi would show positive results to the Hong Kong bourse after years of seeking to lure big foreign mining companies to list in the city. Tavan Tolgoi coal mine, located in the Gobi desert, is the largest coal ore deposit in Mongolia. Its deposit is estimated at a total of over six billion metric tons of coal, and more than one­third of which is high­grade hard coking coal. According to the port administration of Gashunsuukhit, for the first 11 months of the year, ETT exported 13.39 million tons of coal from Tavan Tolgoi.

Prague comes to Mongolian capital – in ice! www.news.mn

Ice replicas of Prague’s Charles Bridge and the Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslas and Adalbert are under construction on Sukhbaatar Square in the heart of Ulaanbaatar. Mongolian sculptor Ts.Batmunkh and his assistants are transforming ice cubes into Prague’s iconic emblem.

The ice replicas have been commissioned by the Czech Embassy and are being financed by two Czech companies. The ice sculptures are being made to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Czech Republic and Mongolia. The ice sculptures will be opened to the public on Monday (16 December).

Mongolia and Russia to cooperate on counter-terrorism www.news.mn

The Mongolian government signed an intergovernmental agreement with Russia on counter-terrorism cooperation on Wednesday 11 December.

Lithium exploration in Mongolia www.news.mn

ION Energy Ltd. is a battery metal exploration company focusing on lithium exploration in southeast Mongolia. The company holds one of the largest mining licenses in the country and is leveraging its first-mover advantage to explore an area of more than 80,000 hectares containing lithium brine and spodumene targets.

Oyu Tolgoi announces Shaft 2 construction completion www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. On December 13, today, Oyu Tolgoi LLC celebrated the completion of Shaft 2 of the world-class OT underground project in Khanbogd soum, Umnugobi aimag, which is a significant milestone for the project.

Revenue from railway transport increases by 15 percent www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. As of first 11 months of this year, 25.6 million tons of freight and duplicated number of 2.7 million passengers were carried by railroad transport. Compared with the same period of the previous year, the carried freight increased by 9.2 percent and number of carried passengers increased by 14.7 percent. Moreover, revenue from railway transport reached MNT 646.3 billion as of first 11 months of 2019 which shows the increase of 15.3 percent.

Copper export amounts to 1.29 tons in 11 months www.zgm.mn

As of November 2019, Mongolia exported a total of 1.29 million tons of copper concentrate at USD 1.67 billion, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO). Moreover, coal exports totaled 34.9 million tons in the first 11 months, which is 83 percent of the 2019 target of 42 million tons. This is a 1.4 percent decrease in terms of a physical quantity and 8.4 percent in monetary value year-on- year. Oyu Tolgoi previously reported that the concentration of copper and gold has decreased from the previous year. Exports of mineral products, textiles and textile articles, natural or cultured stones, precious metals jewelry made up 95.6 percent of total export. On the other hand, 68.5 percent of imports was mineral products, machinery, equipment, electric appliances, transport vehicle, and its spare parts and food products.

Inflation rises 5.2 percent yoy www.zgm.mn

In November 2019, the consumer price index (CPI) at the national level increased by 5.2 percent year-over-year and by 4.6 percent from the end of the previous year. However, CPI dropped by 0.4 percent from the previous month mainly due to decreases in prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages group by 2.2 percent. In the first nine months of 2019, the gross external debt of Mongolia reached USD 29.9 billion, increased by USD 2.0 billion or 7.3 percent compared to the same period of last year. During the period, general government debt reached MNT 22.7 trillion, increased by MNT 1.3 trillion or 5.9 percent yoy. In general government debt, foreign debt was MNT 19.3 trillion or 85.1 percent, domestic debt was MNT 1.4 trillion or 6.2 percent, government debt guarantee was MNT 1.1 trillion or 4.7 percent and concessions were MNT 0.9 billion or 4.0 percent. The money supply reached MNT 20.4 trillion at the end of November 2019, showing a decrease of MNT 24.2 billion from the previous month, while it was increased by MNT 1.8 trillion year-on-year. At the end of November 2019, the national currency in circulation reached MNT 860.2 billion, showing a decrease of MNT 13.7 billion from the previous month and by MNT 34.9 billion compared to the previous year. Thus, the amount of outstanding loans to entities, enterprises and citizens amounted to MNT 18.2 trillion, while it shows an increase of MNT 1.4 trillion from the same period of the previous year.