Category Archives: Mining

Guest Post: Comparing Party Election Platforms on Mining Policy

By Ariuntuya Nominkhuu and Batbold Otgonbayar Right now we are living interesting pre-election days in Mongolia. Due to pandemic-related restrictions, the election with the largest number of candidates in the history of parliamentary elections of Mongolia or 606 people is … Continue reading

Posted in Ariuntuya Nominkhuu, Batbold Otgonbayar, Democratic Party, Erdenet, Ikh Khural 2020, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Mongolian People's Party, National Labor Party, Oyu Tolgoi, Party Politics, Policy, Public Policy, Sovereign Wealth Fund | Leave a comment

Regionalization, Internationalisms, and Mongolia’s Almost Century-Old Mining Sector

By Marissa J. Smith In English-language scholarship, Mongolia’s political-economic system has often been characterized as democratic and market-driven. Though not untrue, this characterization casts Mongolia as a unified entity, which redirects attention from how Mongolia is also regionalized, with an … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Erdenet, Ethnic Groups, Geography, History, JD Mining Governance, Mining, Population, Publications, Research on Mongolia | Tagged | Leave a comment

Guest Post: A BIT of Project Finance Arbitrage in Mongolia

By Kinnari Bhatt As Jennifer Lander observed last week, RIO is getting out the big guns. My new book – Concessionaires, Financiers and Communities: Implementing Indigenous Peoples’ Rights to Land in Transnational Development Projects, shows how investors like RIO use … Continue reading

Posted in Canada, Foreign Investment, International Agreements, Kinnari Bhatt, Law, Mining, Mining Governance, Mongolia and ..., Oyu Tolgoi, Oyu Tolgoi, Research on Mongolia, Taxes | Leave a comment

Guest Post: Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Investor-State Arbitration and Mongolia’s Rapidly Shrinking Policy Space

By Jennifer Lander On the 20th of February, Rio Tinto initiated arbitration proceedings against the Government of Mongolia at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) through Oyu Tolgoi LLC. The escalation of the dispute over the alleged … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Foreign Investment, International Agreements, Jennifer Lander, Law, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Oyu Tolgoi, Oyu Tolgoi, Policy, Taxes, Trade | Leave a comment

Mine Aesthetics and OT as National Symbol

By Julian Dierkes {This post continues a series of posts based on a visit to Oyu Tolgoi at the invitation of the company.} I think it’s fair to say that Mongolians have had an ambivalent relationship with Oyu Tolgoi ever … Continue reading

Posted in JD Mining Governance, Nationalism, Oyu Tolgoi, Society and Culture | Tagged | Leave a comment

OT Data Applications

By Julian Dierkes {Disclosure: As previously mentioned, I was delighted to be invited to Oyu Tolgoi by the company’s communications department.} In addition to the pervasive focus on safety, the utilization of data is visible throughout Oyu Tolgoi. The kind … Continue reading

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World Class Oyu Tolgoi Safety

By Julian Dierkes {Disclosure: I was invited to visit Oyu Tolgoi by the company and enjoyed their hospitality.} In press releases, but also media accounts, Oyu Tolgoi is often described as a “world-class” deposit. To the extent that this meant … Continue reading

Posted in Gobi, Oyu Tolgoi | Tagged | Leave a comment

Getting it right: Preventing Conflicts in Company-Community Relations

By BYAMBAJAV Dalaibuyan Conflict with host communities is a major business risk for mining companies in Mongolia. Though we can cite many specific issues causing local opposition to minerals exploration and mining projects, recent research suggests they all can be … Continue reading

Posted in Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Oyu Tolgoi, Protest | Tagged | Leave a comment

Imagining Nalaikh Mining Museum and Education Centre

By Hongorzul Bayarnyam & Mendee Jargalsaikhan All Starts with the Kindergarten Teacher It was touching to see the paintings of kids at the 123-rd kindergarten of Nalaikh District.  In their imagined world, all coal miners had safety helmets with flashlights, … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Hongorzul Bayarnyam, Kazakhs, Mining, Museums, Nalaikh, Primary and Secondary Education | Tagged | Leave a comment

Closed Mines as Sites of Learning and Engagement in Japan

By Byambajav Dalaibuyan Introduction* Japan is well known for its lack of mineral resources. However, interestingly, the Japanese domestic mining industry played a crucial role in the nation’s industrialization and modernization in the 19th and the first half of the … Continue reading

Posted in Countryside, Education, Environment, Japan, Mining, Museums, Nalaikh | Tagged | Leave a comment

Nalaikh Mining Education Centre

By Mendee Jargalsaikhan and Julian Dierkes The 25th of December 1922 was a very important date in Mongolian history. It was the day that the first government-operated coal mine at Nalaikh was re-opened. This was the birth of industrial mining, … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Kazakhs, Mining, Museums, Nalaikh, Primary and Secondary Education | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Tavan Tolgoi Study: Disenfranchised Drivers

By Mendee Jargalsaikhan and Byambajav Dalaibuyan  Who Are They?  There are about 7000 ~ 9000 drivers – carrying out massive coal transportation from three mines, Ukhaa Khudag (known as Energy Resources LLC), State-Owned Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi, and locally-owned Tavan Tolgoi … Continue reading

Posted in Corruption, Environment, Mining, Mining Governance, Tavan Tolgoi | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Local Level Agreements in Mongolia: A Need for Government Leadership and Policy Clarity

By Byambajav D Before any mineral exploration and mining can take place in Mongolia, the country’s 2006 Minerals Law requires that the host local government and license holders sign a “local level agreement” (LLA). LLAs typically include commitments and obligations … Continue reading

Posted in Governance, Mining, Mining Governance, Public Policy | Tagged | Leave a comment

Rio Tinto in Mongolia

By Julian Dierkes Recently, Bulgan B and I pointed out that there have been as many CEOs at Oyu Tolgoi over the past ten years as there have been PMs of Mongolia. I also appeared on a live BBC radio … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign Investment, International Agreements, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Nationalism, Oyu Tolgoi, Policy | Tagged | Leave a comment

Job Rotation in the Mongolian Cabinet, at Turquoise Hill and at Oyu Tolgoi

By Julian Dierkes and Bulgan B Any observer would agree that the development of Oyu Tolgoi has been a winding and meandering path. In the foreign press and from an international investor perspective, mentions of the frequent turnover of Mongolian … Continue reading

Posted in Business, JD Mining Governance, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Oyu Tolgoi | Tagged | Leave a comment