Archive for ‘Mining’

Environmentalists Urge Mongolian State Authorities to Probe “Illegal” Activities of Petro-China

By mergen, 12 March, 2010, 1 Comment

A coalition of environmental protection movements in the country has sent a report to the President, the Parliament Speaker, the Prime Minister, and the Ministers of Minerals and Energy, Finance, and Labor and Social Welfare detailing “illegal activities” by Petro-China Dachin Tamsag and demanded an inquiry into how the company has been allowed to violate Mongolian laws, pollute the environment, and harm local communities in several ways.

Petro-China has been working in three oil fields in Dornod aimag since 2005 on the basis of a product sharing agreement with the Government. Petro-China has refused to make available to the coalition a copy of the agreement, as also of its performance and monitoring reports, even though the NGOs have a constitutional right to the information.  Petro-China says these are “company secrets that cannot be disclosed to a third party”.

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Goldman Sachs May File Case on Olon Ovoot

By mergen, 12 March, 2010, No Comment

Goldman Sachs is believed to have filed a case against Mongolia in an international arbitration court in matters relating to Mongol Gazar and the Olon Ovoot mines.  This news comes in the wake of unconfirmed but strong reports that the Mongolian Government has lost the case against the Russian-owned Altan Dornod.

Mr. B.Lhagvasuren, director of the Inspection Department at the Central Bank, has denied any information about Goldman Sachs filing any case
Mr. Ts. Myanganbayar, a business magnate, mortgaged the Olon Ovoot gold mine license to several banks and to Goldman Sachs to borrow a total of MNT 210 billion. Of this, Zoos Bank, now known as State Bank, gave him MNT 60 billion, Anod MNT 30 billion, and Goldman Sachs MNT 15 billion.

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Nuclear Energy and Uranium in Mongolia

By mergen, 11 December, 2009, 2 Comments

Mr. Eric de SEZE, General Director & CEO of Areva Mongolia, “Nuclear Energy and Uranium” “PART TWO of BCM Meeting Highlights”

On Monday, December 7, 2009, Business Council of Mongolia (BCM) held its last meeting of the year.  Guest speakers Mr. B. Enhuyag, First Deputy Governor of Bank of Mongolia and Mr. Eric de SEZE, General Director & CEO of Areva Mongolia discussed “Views on Current Macro-Economics and Mongolia’s Banking Sector” and “Nuclear Energy and Uranium”, respectively.

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James Passin Bullish on Mongolian Stock Market

By mergen, 26 November, 2009, 2 Comments

Today, while going through some articles on Mongolia, I ran across an article that happened to cover the Mongolian stock market by a stock market guru named James Passin.  It was a lucky find as the article mostly talked about Berrylium.  Anyway, please read on.

As you will find, James is very bullish on the local Mongolian stock market.

Source:

Mongolian Stock Market Overview

TER: Any other regional international plays that you can discuss with us?

JP: Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (NYSE:IVN, TSX:IVN) , the Canadian exploration company, finally executed an agreement with the Mongolian government with respect to the development of Oyu Tolgoi, the world’s largest undeveloped copper mine. This is a massive mine that will generate $5 billion of revenue per year for over 50 years. While this is a positive development of Ivanhoe, a stock that we’ve been trading from the long side all year, it will be much bigger story for the Mongolian stock market.

Mongolia GDP is only about $5 billion, so Oyu Tolgoi, or OT as the mine is called, will transform the prospects for employment and per capita GDP growth. A great wall of domestic liquidity will support the local stock market, creating a new bull market which will last for decades. The local stock market currently has depressed valuation and almost zero liquidity. Mongolia has structural similarities to other emerging markets that started out with very low market capitalizations, such Vietnam or the smaller Gulf states. There are 24 mineral projects that have been deemed strategic by the Mongolian government and that represent potential sources of commodity exports. The Ivanhoe deal marks the beginning of the Mongolian mining boom and I think the most leveraged long-term way to play this mining boom is through the local stock market.

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Ivanhoe Mines Financial Results and Review of Operations (Third Quarter of 2009)

By mergen, 15 November, 2009, 2 Comments
On November 13, 2009, the following article was released on CNN Money.   It contains highlights from Ivanhoe Mines’ financial tesults and review of operations.  The full PDF can be downloaded from the Ivanhoe Mines website.

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Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX: IVN)(NYSE: IVN)(NASDAQ: IVN) today announced its results for the quarter ended September 30, 2009. All figures are in US dollars, unless otherwise stated.

HIGHLIGHTS DURING THE QUARTER AND SUBSEQUENT WEEKS

- On October 6, Ivanhoe Mines and its strategic partner, Rio Tinto, joined with the Government of Mongolia in a state ceremony for the signing of an Investment Agreement for the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project. The Investment Agreement establishes a stable legal, fiscal and regulatory environment for the construction and operation of the Oyu Tolgoi mining complex.

- On October 27, Ivanhoe received $388 million from Rio Tinto, increasing Rio Tinto’s equity ownership in Ivanhoe Mines to 19.7%. The additional funds will be used to help build and commission the open-pit mine and to advance development of the underground block-cave mine at Ivanhoe’s Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project in Mongolia.

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Nuclear Energy Law Quietly Passed

By bobby, 22 October, 2009, 1 Comment

After 18 months of negotiations and wrangling over a nuclear energy law, the Mongolia State Ikh Khural (Parliament) quietly passed the Nuclear Energy Law (NEL) in July of this year.  During a recent public forum on the NEL sponsored by the Mongolian National Mining Association several members of Parliament admitted the law had been proposed and passed in less than two weeks during July.  This, of course, begs the question of why a law that regulates such an important and potentially dangerous sector was passed so quickly and presumably without much input from other stakeholders in the nuclear sector in Mongolia.

Why a law that regulates such an important and potentially dangerous sector was passed so quickly…

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