In Mongolia, copper mining is a major industry and source of income for the country. There are only two companies that produce copper concentrate, Erdenet Mining Corporation, a Mongolian-Russian joint venture, and the Oyu Tolgoi mine, a joint venture between Rio Tinto Group, Turquoise Hill Resources, and the Government of Mongolia. Until 2010 copper was Mongolia's largest export.
Mongolia is ranked 12th in the world for copper reserves. [1] The south Gobi Desert alone has an estimated of 35 million tonnes of copper. [2]
Erdenet has been operation since 1978 as a joint project between Mongolia and Russia. The mine produced copper concentrate with molybdenum. Over the years the output of grade copper decreased with increasing depth of the mine. This was proposed to be compensated by manufacturing copper cathode which was priced higher. The estimated ore reserve was 1.54 billion tons. The copper concentrate production rate of 130,000 tons was envisaged by Erdent. [3]
As of 2012 [update] Erdenet was still Mongolia's sole producer of copper, and accounted for 14% of Mongolia's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2007. Copper from Erdenet was Mongolia's largest export until 2010 until it was bypassed by coal. [1] While the mine has been exporting copper concentrate since production began, there are plans to create industry within the country to manufacture finished products (such as copper wire) from concentrate from the mine. [4]
In 2001 Canadian-based Ivanhoe Mines (now known as Turquoise Hill Resources) discovered the gold-copper ore deposit of what would be developed into the Oyu Tolgoi mine. The deposit is in the Gobi Desert in an area known as Oyu Tolgoi (Mongolian for Turquoise Hill), [5] where in the time of Genghis Khan outcropping rocks were smelted for copper. [6] By 2003 there were 18 exploration drill rigs on the property employing approximately 200 people, and Oyu Tolgoi was the "biggest mining exploration project in the world." [5] In January 2013 Oyu Tolgoi started producing concentrate from the mine. [7] Its location in the South Gobi province, is 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the border with China and is termed as a mega mine in Mongolia. Its mining operations are a joint venture of Rio Tinto (a UK-based mining transnational), Turquoise Hill and the Mongolian government. [8] As of 2010, the estimated cost of bringing the Oyu Tolgoi mine into production was US$4.6 billion, [9] making it (financially) the largest project in Mongolian history; [10] however, by 2013 costs had increased to $10 billion. [11] When in production Oyu Tolgoi will account for more than 30% of Mongolia's GDP. [12] The copper production from this mine (the investment was reported to be of the order of US$5 billion) has been projected at 450,000 tonnes of copper for the next 50 years; [13] the mining reserves are reported to extend up to 32 km (20 mi) beneath the Gobi Desert and is also estimated to yield 10,000 kilograms (330,000 troy ounces) of gold annually. [14] In January 2013 Oyu Tolgoi started producing concentrate from the mine. [7]
Minera Escondida is a mining company that operates two open pit copper mines in the Atacama Desert, 170 km southeast of Antofagasta in northern Chile. It is currently the highest producing copper mine in the world. Its 2007 production of 1.483 million tons of the metal was worth US$10.12 billion, mainly as metal in concentrate, but some as cathode, and was 9.5% of world output and 26% of Chilean production, according to the US Geological Survey's preliminary estimates of 2007 world mine output.
Rio Tinto Group is a British-Australian multinational company that is the world's second largest metals and mining corporation. It was founded in 1873 when a group of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto, in Huelva, Spain, from the Spanish government. It has grown through a long series of mergers and acquisitions. Although primarily focused on extraction of minerals, it also has significant operations in refining, particularly the refining of bauxite and iron ore. It has joint head offices in London, England and Melbourne, Australia.
Robert Martin Friedland is an American-Canadian billionaire financier in the mining industry. Since the early 1980s, he has specialized in securing funding for the exploration and development of mineral and energy resources and technology ventures. He is the founder and chairman of his private, family-owned firm, Ivanhoe Capital Corporation, which is active in capital markets, focused on emerging markets. He is the founder and co-chairman of Ivanhoe Mines – a Canadian public company listed on the Toronto and OTCQX exchanges.
Aluminum Corporation of China Limited, is a multinational aluminium company headquartered in Beijing, People's Republic of China. It is a public company, listed in Hong Kong and in New York. In 2021, it was the world's largest aluminum producer, ahead of China Hongqiao Group, Rusal and Shandong Xinfa.
Tavan Tolgoi is one of the world's largest untapped coking and thermal coal deposits, located in the Ömnögovi Province in southern Mongolia. It has a total estimated resource of 6.4 billion tonnes, one quarter of which is high quality coking coal. It is divided into six sections: Tsankhi, Ukhaa Khudag, Bor tolgoi, Borteeg, and Southwest and Eastern coalfields. The Tsankhi section is the largest part, and is divided into East and West Tsankhi - these have had the most focus recently.
The Oyu Tolgoi mine, also Oyuutolgoi, is a combined open pit and underground mining project in Khanbogd sum within the south Gobi Desert, approximately 235 kilometres (146 mi) east of the Ömnögovi Province capital Dalanzadgad. The site was discovered in 2001 and is being developed as a joint venture between Turquoise Hill Resources with 66% ownership and the Government of Mongolia with 34%. The mine began construction as of 2010 and shipped its first batch of copper on 9 July 2013.
Lundin Mining Corporation is a Canadian company that owns and operates mines in Sweden, United States, Chile, Portugal and Brazil that produce base metals such as copper, zinc, and nickel. Headquartered in Toronto, the company was founded by Adolf Lundin and operated by Lukas Lundin. While it was incorporated to pursue an interest in a diamond mine in Brazil, the company re-structured and raised funds to develop the Storliden mine in Sweden. It purchased the Swedish Zinkgruvan Mine from Rio Tinto and then merged with Arcon International Resources for its Galmoy Mine in Ireland and with Eurozinc for its Neves-Corvo mine in Portugal. The company subsequently purchased and operated the Eagle mine, Candelaria mine, and Chapada mine.
Canada and Mongolia countries established diplomatic relations on November 30, 1973. Canada has been represented in Mongolia through an embassy since 2008. Mongolia has an embassy in Ottawa, and in 2002 opened an Honorary Consulate in Toronto.
Turquoise Hill Resources was a Canadian mineral exploration and development company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, and since December 2022, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto Group. The company was called Ivanhoe Mines until August 2, 2012 when a financing agreement was completed with Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto acquired full ownership of Turquoise Hill in December 2022.
Hugo T. Dummett (1940–2002) was a South African mineral-exploration geologist who is best known for his role in the discovery of the Ekati Diamond Mine in the Barren Lands of Canada's Northwest Territories. Dummett has been described as "the brains, the ideas and the energy" behind the discovery of Ekati, which led to the creation of a new Canadian diamond-mining industry.
The Mongolia Economic Forum (MEF) is a non-profit, non-political and non-governmental organization in Mongolia that held its first annual conference in 2010. It provides a platform to explore collaborative opportunities across government and business, multilateral organizations, and the third sector, to implement development policies that help Mongolia achieve economic growth.
Khanbumbat Airport, also Oyu Tolgoi Airport, is an airport in Khanbogd, Ömnögovi, Mongolia. The airport's construction was funded by the adjacent Oyu Tolgoi mine. It is the second airport in passenger traffic in Mongolia after Buyant-Ukhaa International Airport. The airport serves nearly 100,000 passengers annually.
Mining is important to the national economy of Mongolia. Mongolia is one of the 29 resource-rich developing countries identified by the International Monetary Fund and exploration of copper and coal deposits are generating substantial additional revenue.
Mining in North Korea is important to the country's economy. North Korea is naturally abundant in metals such as magnesite, zinc, tungsten, and iron; with magnesite resources of 6 billion tonnes, particularly in the North and South Hamgyong Province and Chagang Province. However, often these cannot be mined due to the acute shortage of electricity in the country, as well as the lack of proper tools to mine these materials and an antiquated industrial base. Coal, iron ore, limestone, and magnesite deposits are larger than other mineral commodities. Mining joint ventures with other countries include China, Canada, Egypt, and South Korea.
The Windfall tax or windfall profits tax in Mongolia was a taxation on the profits made by mining companies operating in Mongolia. It was implemented in 2006 and was the highest windfall profits tax in the world. It was a tax on unsmelted copper and gold concentrate that was produced in Mongolia. The tax was repealed in 2009 and phased out over two years. Repealing the 68% tax law was considered essential to enable foreign mining companies to invest in mineral resources development of Mongolia.
Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrain is a Mongolian politician who has served as the prime minister of Mongolia since 27 January 2021. He has been elected to the State Great Khural (Parliament) three times since 2016.
Bayanjargal Byambasaikhan is a Mongolian business executive specialized in energy, infrastructure and mining investment and financing. He played leading roles in closing several of Asia's landmark project finance transactions. He is known as the clean energy pioneer in Mongolia having successfully developed and commissioned the country's first utility scale wind power project. This paved way for half a billion dollars of private sector investment in Mongolia’s renewables industry through 2019. Byambasaikhan's interests are in areas of energy, clean energy and regional infrastructure connectivity.
SouthGobi Resources is a Canadian coal mining company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange. The company's primary asset is a coal mine and development projects of coal assets in Mongolia.
Aethel Mining is a British mining company headquartered in London and owned by Ricardo Santos Silva and Aba Schubert. Aethel Mining is the operator of the Torre de Moncorvo mines in Portugal, the largest private iron ore deposit in Europe.