Khanbogd school and kindergarten complex ready to receive 840 children www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Oyu Tolgoi backed Gobi Oyu Development Support Fund has commissioned and completed the Khanbogd secondary school No.2 with capacity to educate 640- school students and 200- kindergarten children.

MBD (B2B) Business offers # 18 www.mongolianbusinessdatabase.com

www.mongolianbusinessdatabase.com is the number 1 ranking B2B portal site on Google's "Mongolia business or/and Business Mongolia" search according to the business visitors access from appx 90 countries as of today (Google analytics report).

Students from Mongolia will be able to learn Russian quicker www.urfu.ru

Since December 2018, the Ural Federal University has opened a new opportunity for pupils and students of Mongolia to study the Russian language remotely. This was announced today during a video conference between UrFU and the representative office of Rossotrudnichestvo in Ulaanbaatar. To get full information on the educational program, students from several Mongolian universities participated in the video conference.

According to Olga Mikhailova, the Department of the Russian Language for Foreign Students Assistant, the Russian language courses at Ural Federal University include 144 hours of free online lessons, tutoring and ongoing information support. Every week, course participants will receive useful information in order to improve their Russian skills.

‘There will be online classes for which students only need a computer with access to the Internet,’ Olga Mikhailova says. ‘After each lecture, students will perform a written task for teacher assessment. Besides that, after each webinar, they will perform an oral task and then check it in a group. It is expected that there will be two classes a week in total: a lecture for 24-25 people and a webinar for 12-13 people’.

As a result, students and schoolchildren will be able to improve their Russian language skills in a few months, prepare for the exam and eventually become an UrFU student. At the beginning and at the end of the course, the organizers will conduct a test, which will show their language level. Classes will begin as early as December 2018, and will end at the end of April 2019.

In order to participate in the course you need to apply for a test and then undergo an interview in Russian and do a written task in Russian.

Mind you, the development and launch of this educational program in Ural Federal University became possible thanks to the support of the Presidential Grants Foundation, which provided a special grant to the Sverdlovsk Regional Fund for the Support of Youth Initiatives. The project also involves the Russian language festival “Cyrillic Fest” in Ulaanbaatar in the summer of 2019. The course participants will be able to continue learning Russian with UrFU teachers in full-time format at the festival. Immersion in the Russian language will also take place through songs, dances, contests, master classes, theater, cinema, video blogging, sports and much more.

The project was supported by well-known university graduates who now live and work in Mongolia, including Zandaakhüügiin Enkhbold, the head of the Mongolia Presidential Administration.

The First Vice-Rector of UrFU Sergey Kortov, Senior Researcher at the Academic and Research Laboratory of Archeographic Studies Alexander Palkin and the Association of UrFU Alumni Executive Director Alexander Ponomarev, who are now in Ulaanbaatar, also took part in the video conference between UrFU and Rossotrudnichestvo. Elvira Symaniuk, UrFU Ural Institute of Humanities Director, Valerii Gudov, the Department of Russian and Foreign Literature Assistant Professor and Mongolian students who are currently studying at UrFU, greeted the schoolchildren and students from Mongolia.

In you have any questions, please address them to Olga Mikhailova at krolishna@gmail.com.

Deep water contamination found 47m underneath surface www.zgm.mn

Ulaanbaatar Environmental Department (UED), under the support from United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), organized Ulaanbaatar City Soil Pollution and Health discussion to present the results of a study on soil, which addresses critical level of pollution.

Teck chooses Sumitomo to develop Chilean copper project in $1.2B deal www.mining.com

Teck Resources (TSX:TECK.A | TECK.B)(NYSE:TCK), Canada’s largest diversified miner, has chosen Japan’s Sumitomo as partner to go ahead with a planned $4.8 billion expansion of the Quebrada Blanca copper mine in northern Chile.

Sumitomo Metal Mining and Sumitomo Corporation will pay $1.2 billion to Teck for a 30% stake in the Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 project — $800 million earn-in contribution and $400 million matching contribution.

The sum will help the Vancouver-based company go ahead with the expansion of the mine, now approved by the board, with construction to start as soon as the deal is closed and production expected to begin in the second half of 2021.

A potential third expansion will make the Quebrada Blanca mine Chile’s second largest copper operation, after Escondida, and one of the world’s top five copper mines.
“This partnership significantly de-risks Teck’s investment in the project, enhances our project economics and preserves our ability to continue to return capital to shareholders and reduce bonds currently outstanding,” Teck’s Chief Executive Don Lindsay said in the statement.

In August, the miner received regulatory approval for the mine extension, but the board didn’t ok the project until today.

Sumitomo reportedly had competed with Mitsubishi, Freeport-McMoRan, Lundin Mining, Rio Tinto and others looking to boost their copper assets.

Teck sees the Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 as its most significant growth opportunity, with the potential to double its copper business. It is expected to extend the ageing deposit’s life by 28 years and substantially boost production to 300,000 tonnes of copper a year from 23,400 tonnes in 2017.

The Canadian mining giant is already studying a Phase 3 for the mine, which will double its capacity to 600,000 tonnes of copper a year. The potential extension will make the mine Chile’s second largest copper operation, after Escondida, and situate it among the world’s top five copper mines.

In terms of costs, Phase 3 would need a $5 billion-investment, as it would have to include the installation of a new concentrator.

Copper rush
Copper, one of four business units at Teck besides steelmaking, coal, oil and zinc, is considered a company priority.

The Canadian miner is not alone on the quest for copper assets, a metal the industry sees as having one of the strongest outlooks. There are expectations that the electric-vehicle boom and demand for renewable energy will increase need for the metal.

The expected deficit will partly be a consequence of increasing demand for power generation and electric vehicles (there’s 300kg of copper in an electric bus and nine tonnes per windfarm megawatt).

But it’s also related to the fact that the current copper pipeline is at the lowest this century, both in terms of number and capacity.

“After delivery of Cobre Panama (with the main ramp early next year) we are left with a gap until we see the next batch of 200ktpa-plus projects in 2022-23,” Colin Hamilton, director of commodities research at BMO Capital Markets, said in April. “This is when the likes of Kamoa, Oyu Tolgoi Phase 2, and QB2 are likely to offer meaningful supply growth.”

Once the deal with Sumitomo is completed, Teck will own 60% of the Quebrada Blanca project and Chile’s national mining company ENAMI will hold the remaining 10%.

Mongolia introduces community-based sustainable tourism www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Ministry of Environment and Tourism, ‘Airbnb’ and ‘what3words’ announced launching of a joint project to create a favorable condition for tourism in Mongolia. A memorandum of cooperation between the parties was signed in May, 2018.

No nukes here! Mongolia stands up for world peace and sanity www.news.mn

In the world today, Mongolia is the only country with internationally recognised nuclear-weapon-free status.

Is Mongolia’s current political instability systemic or a governance issue? www.globaltimes.cn

Mongolia has again been caught up in political instability a year after a new government took over from the one ruling since 2016. According to the Xinhua News Agency, Mongolian Prime Minister Ukhnaa Khurelsukh on Friday survived a no-confidence vote initiated by 27 lawmakers of the ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP) on November 19 over a financial scandal involving some members of parliament and government. These high-ranking officials are said to have obtained loans with low interest rates from a fund that serves small and medium-size enterprises.

Such internal battles in Mongolian politics are not new but are symptomatic of societal illness for almost 30 years since its democratic transition. Once again, there is widespread discussion on the root cause of this stubborn illness.

Generally, there are two different opinions: one says that Mongolia should carry out systematic constitutional reform. This group is again split into two - one party supports the traditional parliamentary system. The other advocates a presidential form of government. The second opinion says that Mongolia needs a "cosmetic change" on the institutional level rather than a systematic one, a change that clarifies both rights and responsibilities and strengthens supervision.

Yet, no precise diagnosis is given either by internal or outside experts on whether the trouble Mongolia has sunk into is a systematic one or has been precipitated by governance problems, hence, the power struggle drama continues in Mongolian politics.

The problem is characterized by the tension between the "top three," - the parliament, the prime minister and the president, manifesting itself as a power struggle and conflict of interests. Mongolia is characterized as a semi-presidential and semi-parliamentary state, but in comparison, the parliament is more powerful than the president. So, it is also called a parliamentary state with president. The parliament represents the highest authority of the state.

Still, Mongolian polity is different from a classic parliamentary democracy since the president enjoys certain overriding powers such that his decisions can have an impact on any institution at the highest level of the polity. For example, the right to veto the laws and resolutions passed by the parliament, set guidelines for the government and issue decrees, to select the candidate for the prime minister by negotiating with the majority in the parliament etc.

The president also has an equal right with the parliament to nominate three members of the Constitutional Court (nine members). Most importantly, the president has the right to appoint the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General of the Supreme Procuratorate, which indeed violates the principle of judicial independence.

In addition, the prime minister is a member of parliament and so are members of the government. Integration of legislative and executive power makes things even worse. Corruption, interest-groups and factional divisions in politics are becoming more serious. Currently, the MPP in the parliament is divided into two factions. One is with the current Parliament Speaker Miyeegombyn Enkhbold and the other supports the current prime minister. Now, the parliament is deadlocked because 32 members requested the removal of the speaker.

A series of recent political scandals and incidents have further exacerbated public distrust and dissatisfaction with the two major political parties. Mongolia is not only caught in economic and political mire, but also faces a serious mistrust in authorities and the major political parties. Disappointment among the people is high. Political instability has been a chronic disease of Mongolia, which inevitably has had a negative impact on the economy. In the last 27 years, Mongolia has seen 14 governments, which means that the average life expectancy of each government is less than two years.

The next development in the political situation remains to be seen. Mongolia is an important neighbor of China to the north and an essential party to China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor's construction. Mongolian economy has just shown signs of recovery. Political stability in Mongolia is not only beneficial to the country and its people but also conductive to the promotion of regional stability and sub-regional cooperation.

By B.Shurentana
The author is a lecturer at the Center for Mongolian Studies, Inner Mongolia University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

Mongolia's central bank purchases 18.9 tons of gold in first 11 months this year www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of Mongolia, the central bank, has purchased 18.9 tons of gold from legal entities and individuals in the first 11 months of this year, the same as last year's figure during the same period, according to a statement issued on Tuesday.

Trump: US, China, Russia to discuss arms race halt www.nhk.or.jp

US President Donald Trump has said he is willing to start disarmament talks in the future with his Chinese and Russian counterparts.