H.E. YONDON GELEN’S, MINISTER OF MINING AND HEAVY INDUSTRY OF MONGOLIA, WELCOMING REMARKS FOR MONGOLIA@PDAC
Your Excellency, Mongolian and Canadian Ambassadors,
The Honourable Members of Parliament,
Distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen!
On behalf of the Government of Mongolia and the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry, I would like to thank all of you for accepting our invitation to this event. I am glad that we can meet with international investors, explorers, miners, and mining professionals in person as the global outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has subsided. The PDAC International Convention, first held in 1932, is now in its 90th year and has grown to become the world’s largest event bringing together investors, explorers, miners, government agencies and professionals in the industry. Congratulations on the 90th anniversary to the Board of Directors, Organizing Committees and all staff of the Prospector’s and Developers’ Association of Canada and international participants. I want to highlight that Mongolia has been an active participant in the PDAC with extensive delegation since our mining industry engaged with international stakeholders actively, focusing on attracting foreign investment.
This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment and development of the mining sector in Mongolia. Congratulations to all generations of Mongolian miners and those working in the industry from the podium of this world’s largest event, and I wish you good health, happiness, and prosperity.
Today’s event is a great opportunity to build a greater understanding amongst all stakeholders including investors, government officials, mining professionals, and private sector, and to update you all on the Mongolian Government policies and plans and to exchange views on future steps to be taken.
Over the past 10 years, the mining sector has developed rapidly, with one of the world’s largest copper-gold project Oyu Tolgoi, the coking coal project Tavan Tolgoi and dozens of other mining projects being implemented, and the world leading mining technology is being introduced into the country. As a result, Mongolia has managed to create a modern mining sector with an annual revenue of $6 billion, primarily based on copper, metallurgical coal, and gold export as well as hard and soft infrastructure for the industry.
The Government and the Ministry are looking to develop the mining sector within a comprehensive policy of exploration-mining-processing-sales-distribution phases. To this end, the Ministry has developed draft laws on the Mining Commodity Exchange, the Sovereign Development Fund and other relevant regulations and a revision of the Minerals Laws. The adoption of these laws will facilitate more mining projects, as well as ensure proper environmental protection and improve relations between the locals and investors. It will also allow a fair share of mineral resource benefits to citizens and savings of a certain part of the mining revenues in the Sovereign Wealth Fund soon to be established.
The Government is working closely with foreign investors effectively on a mutually beneficial manner. The Government has been successfully negotiating the Oyu Tolgoi project with Rio Tinto, reaching common ground. The construction of the Oyu Tolgoi underground mine is on schedule, and the first blasting of the underground mine ore was carried out in early 2022. Upon the full operation of the underground mine, copper concentrate production and the state and local budgets revenues will increase.
In addition to further strengthening and expanding our copper sector, we are starting to introduce regulations to support the exploration of battery minerals, rare earth elements, other critical minerals. We are also seeking cooperation opportunities with the countries that consume raw materials in this area at the government level. By 2050, about 68 percent of the world’s population will be concentrated in Asia. Following this, the demand for battery minerals, rare earth elements and other critical minerals in Asia is expected to increase rapidly. We will intensify and support geological survey and exploration in this area, as the demand for certain types of minerals is expected to increase due to the global climate change mitigation policies and the transition to a green economy.
As you know, infrastructure plays a major role in the mining sector competitiveness. A railway will be put into operation to connect large deposits with border crossings. Power plant and water supply projects in the mining region will be implemented soon. The Government also aims to raise the level of processing of mining products and establish processing plants in the country.
Finally, congratulations to the Organizing Committee for holding annual PDAC International Convention as usual in a time of global challenges.
Thank you again for accepting our invitation.
Wish you every success.
