The planned visit, the second of such level following the December visit by the Mongolian foreign minister, indicates the depth of the bilateral relations “and constitutes the basis for cooperation in all spheres”.

Dubbing the mission as an opportunity to raise the level of economic and investment cooperation between the two countries, the ministry said the Mongolian finance minister would look, along with the Kuwaiti officials, into economic issues of common concern.

Kuwait and Mongolia are partners in China’s strategic “silk road” initiative, which shares much with Kuwait Vision 2035.

The Mongolian prime minister is scheduled to visit Kuwait later this year. Moreover, the two countries are scheduled to hold the first round of political consultations in April, in addition to convening the second session of the joint economic and technical cooperation commission in the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar.

In the third quarter that ended Sept. 30, the country’s gold output totalled 81 tonnes, making it the third consecutive quarter where it exceeded 80 tonnes, they say in their latest report.

The country's gold production hit an all-time high of 317 tonnes in 2018, breaking the previous record of 314.5 tonnes, which stood for 21 years.
“Overall, production is remarkably stable, despite the ups and downs at individual operations,” Surbiton director Sandra Close said. “If gold output is maintained at current levels in the December quarter, output for the full calendar year 2018 will remain at a near-record level.”

Australia continues to solidify its position as the No. 2 gold-producing nation in the world, just behind China, the consultancy says.

The top five largest producers shifted over the course of the year, Surbiton notes.

Newcrest Mining's Cadia operation in New South Wales was 2018's top producing mine, dethroning Newmont Mining's Boddington operation in WA.

Cadia yielded just over 750,000 ounces while Boddington produced 710,000 ounces.

Newmont and Barrick Gold's Super Pit dropped to third last year.

Newmont's Tanami in the Northern Territory was fourth with 496,000 ounces of gold, while AngloGold Ashanti and Independence Group's Tropicana mine in WA was fifth with 477,908 ounces.

This year, Surbiton says, the country will benefit from additional production coming from Gold Fields and Gold Road Resources' new 300,000 ounces a year Gruyere mine in Western Australia. It will be also boosted by Kirkland Lake Gold's Fosterville mine in Victoria, which is expected to yield a record of about 600,000 ounces.

Fabio Schvartsman and several other executives asked to be removed after prosecutors called for their dismissal.

At least 122 people are still missing more than a month after the accident at the dam, which collected waste from an iron ore mine in Minas Gerais state.

Vale is the world's biggest producer of iron ore.

The company described the executives' removal as temporary, but did not say how long it would last.

The announcement was made late on Saturday, during the Brazilian carnival weekend. The main Sao Paulo stock exchange will be closed on Monday and Tuesday.

The mining disaster was the second in the region since 2015, when a nearby dam co-owned by Vale collapsed.

Brazilian authorities were severely criticised for being too slow and complacent over that accident. No-one has yet been imprisoned.

Vale said Eduardo Bartolomeo, executive director of base metals, had been appointed as the new head of the company.

The other executives stepping down were Vale's head of ferrous minerals and coal, Peter Poppinga, planning director Lúcio Flávio Cavalli and Silmar Magalhães Silva, the head of a geographic division.

From the pride of Brazil to most hated company
Brazil's dam disaster: Looking for bodies, looking for answers
A German consultancy firm, Tüv Süd, carried out an audit of the Feijão dam last September which found the dam met legal requirements.

But an internal report seen by the Reuters news agency said the Brazilian mining company knew the dam was at risk as it was told the site breached guidelines months before it collapsed on 25 January.

Vale said the report was misleading as there was no evidence of imminent risk.

However, the Vale chief had little choice but to resign after federal prosecutors recommended that he and three other senior executives be temporarily removed.

Mr Schvartsman defended his handling of the accident as "absolutely appropriate", but admitted that his presence had become an "inconvenience" for the company.

It is still not known what caused the collapse at Brumadinho, but experts believe liquefaction was to blame.

Liquefaction is a process whereby a solid material such as sand loses strength and behaves more like a liquid.

Germany, along with some other major EU economies, is set to have a much higher share of electric vehicles among its new registrations than the average rate across the bloc, he added.

Europe needs to boost electric mobility because without it, goals for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the EU cannot be achieved by 2030, according to Mattes. For this purpose, the appropriate regulatory conditions must be met. Massive expansion of the charging infrastructure is also required, along with more offerings for e-vehicle buyers.

At the same time, Berlin expects a significant decline in domestic car production this year due to a slowing economy, trade risks linked to US tariffs, as well as the expansion of plants in the US, Mexico and China, the VDA chief warned. German plants are expected to produce 4.8 million passenger vehicles this year, which is around five percent fewer than in 2018.