For centuries, Mongolian nomads have a long tradition of raising five kinds of livestock, including goats, in the vast territory and harsh climate, which resulted in four naturally occurring colours that nomads are able to obtain from their goats.

The naturally occurring colours that are supplied by Mongolian nomads are white, beige, warm gray and brown. On the contrary, the cashmere supplied by China (Inner Mongolia) are obtained from goats that are raised in restricted farming facility. It limits naturally occurring colours by two colours.

Mongolian cashmere manufacturers, in particular Gobi Corporation produces its cashmere products by using four naturally occurring colors under its Gobi Organic label. It is highly valued and sought after by consumers of Japanese, French, German, Canadian and South Korean markets.

As of today, 85 percent of the total raw cashmere supplied by Mongolia are being purchased by companies from China, Italy and England in scoured /washed/ or de-haired form which are then used to produce garments to be sold under world known high end luxurious brands. It shows the quality and value that Mongolian raw cashmere can offer to world renowned brands.

Mongolian cashmere fibers are longer in length compared to Chinese cashmere fibers, therefore, resulting in higher quality cashmere yarns. High quality cashmere yarns directly influence on the quality of finished garments.

Mongolian producers are using up-to-date technology to produce high quality products from its initial stage of primary production to the final stage of garment production to supply to the international market.

The Alashanzuoqi white cashmere goats in China are well known for its white cashmere. Due to the high demand for this type of cashmere and high value for its white cashmere, nomads in certain regions in Mongolia (Bayankhongor province) have started herding white goats with a purpose to get the high value for its raw cashmere. As a result, we have high quality white cashmere. Furthermore, there are certain regions in Mongolia that are well-known with their high quality specific colors, which allow companies to work on those regions to get the highest quality raw cashmere that can be supplied to the world market.

The World Bank has pointed to special spending needs in health and education – key sectors that play an essential role in the country’s long-term fight against poverty.

In a report on Mongolia’s revenue and public expenditure, the Washington-based bank also highlights poor returns on very high levels of capital expenditure.

“With high public debt, low tax rates and high exemptions, the Mongolian economy remains extremely vulnerable to external factors, including shifts in global demand, commodity prices, and exchange rate and interest rate shocks,” said Andrei Mikhnev, World Bank country manager for Mongolia.

“There is a clear need to strengthen fiscal buffers through increased savings during years of prosperity.”

The report, Public Expenditure Review: Growing without Undue Borrowing, calls on the country to strengthen its fiscal foundations.

It says that at an average of about 11% of GDP in 2010–2016, Mongolian capital expenditure has been among the highest in the world.

However, returns on this spending have been low due to poor selection of projects, long delays in implementation, high cost overruns, and low maintenance budgets.

“The report lays out key actions the country can take to enhance the efficiency of public investment,” said Jean-Pascal Nganou, the World Bank’s senior country economist and a lead author of the report.

“Development and implementation of a national road map to improve the efficiency of these investments is the top priority.”

Mongolian revenues have been volatile and the World Bank economists recommend reducing the government’s dependence on the mineral sector by reforming the tax system.

Low tax rates should be raised, exemptions need to be revised, and the tax base needs to be broadened, they say.

The government wage bill is also high and growing fast, which economists believe is closely linked to increased staff turnover owing to the frequent reorganisation of ministries.

While education spending is average compared to similar countries, the use of resources has been poorly planned and basic classroom learning materials have taken second place to expensive equipment.

Spending on health is much lower than it was in 2003, and the report says critical reforms are needed to address the growing burden of non-communicable diseases.

In the first 5 months of 2019, total foreign trade turnover increased by USD 514.5 (10.2 percent) million, of which exports increased by USD 378.2 million (13.1 percent) and imports increased by USD 136.3 million (6.3 percent) compared to the same period of the previous year.

The USD 378.2 million increase in exports from same period of previous year was due to the increases of USD 168.0 million in bituminous coal and USD 51.4 million in gold, unwrought or in semi-manufactured forms exports.

The USD 136.3 million increase in imports from same period of previous year was mainly due to USD 36.8 million increase in mineral products imports, especially, USD 46.1 million increase in diesel imports and USD 100.6 million increase in transport vehicles, their spare parts.

Exports of mineral products, textiles and textile articles, natural or cultured stones, precious metals, jewelry make up to 96.6 percent of total export. On the other hand, 68.9 percent of imports are mineral products, machinery, equipment, electric appliances, transport vehicle and its spare parts and food products.

source: National Statistics Office

Registered unemployed people decreased by 512 (2.1 percent) compared to the previous year but increased by 1040 (4.6 percent) from the previous month. A breakdown by gender shows that 12.2 thousand or 52.0 percent were women among total number of registered unemployed.

In the first 5 months of 2019, the Labor and Social Welfare Services Agencies have recorded 30.4 thousand newly unemployed and 6.8 thousand registered persons were hired on a new job.

Compared to the same period of the previous year, new registered unemployment were decreased by 4.2 thousand persons or 12.3 percent, the number of person removed from Unemployment Registered due to inactivity were decreased by 3.8 thousand or 13.3 percent and the number of persons hired on a new job were decreased by 0.3 thousand persons or 5.3 percent.

From total registered unemployed at national level, more than half or 54.9 percent was accounted for young people aged 15-34.

source: National Statistics Office

The investment, now fully approved, is CITIC’s second major one in less than a year, bringing its total financing to about $1 billion.

Another Chinese firm, Zijin Mining Group — which became Ivanhoe’s partner in the project four years ago — exercised its anti-dilution rights last month, which in turn will generate additional proceeds for Ivanhoe of C$67 million ($50 million).

Friedland, who made his fortune from the Voisey’s Bay nickel project in Canada in the 1990s, has said the capacity of the project’s first phase could later be easily tripled. He believes Kamoa-Kakula has the potential to become the world’s second-largest copper mine.

Once fully developed, the mining complex could produce 382,000 tonnes of copper a year during the first 10 years, climbing to 700,000 tonnes of copper after 12 years of operations. That means that Kamoa-Kakula has the potential to become the world’s second-largest copper mine.

Analysts also believe the giant mine could restore the DRC’s historical position as one of the world’s top copper producing countries.

When the Tavan Tolgoi power plant with a capacity of 300 mWh commences, the power supply of OT will be improved along with the integrated power supply system of Mongolia. As of 2018, the OT mine project has paid approximately USD 150 million for generating electricity from Inner Mongolia's energy system annually. Tavan Tolgoi thermal power station will keep the invest in Mongolia. Furthermore, when the OT underground mine is commissioned, energy consumption will increase by 30-40 percent from current levels.

The plant will provide water from the Naiman valley and will use minimize water consumption via using an air cooling system for power plants. The Tavan Tolgoi power plant planned to use 1.2 million tons of coal annually and will use the thermal coal, which does not be exported and left at the mines. The remaining coal will be in circulation in the economy, according to the spokesman.

Also, 200 permanent jobs will be created, following the increased housing and social buildings and improved urban development.

Sharp Corporation announced the completion of a 16.4 MW solar power project in Mongolia. The project, financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP), is located in the Khushig valley, in Tuv aimag (province), 14 km southwest of the New Ulaanbaatar International Airport, which is now under construction.

The solar plant is expected to provide with electricity the new airport and urban parts of Ulaanbaatar, Sharp said in a press release. The project was built with the support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the frame of the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) Model Projects scheme of the Japanese Ministry of the Environment, which provides financial supports covering up to half of the initial investment costs.

The project is owned by Sermsang Power (SSP) and Tenuun Gerel Construction (TGC), which are backed by Bangkok-based Sermsang Power and Sharp’s unit Sharp Energy Solutions, in addition to two Mongolian companies.

Sharp also completed another 16.5 MW (DC) array in Zamyn Uud, Dornogovi aimag last year and another 10 MW plant in the country‘s second largest city Darkhan. Earlier this year, the Green Climate Fund and Mongolia’s XacBank announced the completion of a 10 MW solar plant in Govisümber aimag.

Mongolia in 2014 tried to implement a FIT scheme for solar which proved unsuccessful, with payments of $0.15-0.18/kWh. A year later, it amended a renewable energy law to replace the fixed payment feed-in tariffs with feed-in premiums – added on top of the market energy price – with the new payments dubbed the “encouraging tariff” by the authorities. At the same time, the government improved regulation for power purchase agreements.

Mongolia’s total installed PV capacity stood at just 63.0 MW at the end of 2018, according to statistics from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). New PV additions for last year totaled 15 MW, while in 2017 and 2016 newly deployed solar capacity had reached 33 MW and 10 MW, respectively.

"Unfortunately, five adults drowned after bathing in Tuul river to cool off during a heat wave over the weekend," the NPA said in a statement.

"The number of the people who want to stay on river banks and cool off in rivers has been increasing due to high temperatures across the country in recent day," the agency said.

"There have been around 20 deaths by drowning in the country so far this year. Drowning is preventable," the NPA added, urging people to avoid swimming alone or staying near rivers after drinking alcohol.

According to the country's National Agency for Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring, high temperatures range from 30 to 37 degrees Celsius swept across the country over the weekend.

The move follows an earn-in agreement between the two companies, signed in April, under which Kennecott can acquire a 55% stake in the property by spending $5 million on exploration within five years, including a minimum $1 million in the first year.

Initial work contemplates three drill holes targeting an area displaying multi-element soil and rock chip geochemical anomalies, historic prospects, strong induced polarization anomalies and porphyry drill intercepts, as well as four holes targeting skarn mineralization.

Madison is located in the heart of Montana’s prolific copper-gold belt, just 38km southeast of Butte’s billion-dollar epicenter and the world-renowned Butte copper mine. (Image courtesy of Broadway Gold Mining.)
Broadway Gold Mining, a Canadian explorer based in Ontario, recently acquired an 85% interest in a land package in Namibia as part of the company’s strategy to identify rich deposits.

The Tsumeb mining camp is known to host both high-grade polymetallic deposits and stratabound copper/silver/cobalt deposits. It also features deposits of gold, vanadium, germanium and uranium.