Date: September 2022
As part of the centenary of Mongolia’s mining industry, the international coal trade and investment conference “Coal Mongolia 2022” opened with the discussion “The New Revival Policy in the coal sector — stakeholders of the coal industry”. Addressing participants, Prime Minister L. Oyun-Erdene said that at a time of rapidly growing coal demand, well-managed cooperation was needed, and that despite many adverse factors around borders and customs, considerable work had been done: the Gashuunsukhait border crossing is to be commissioned shortly, work at Shiveekhuren will finish soon, and commissioning Bichigt will allow 25 million tonnes of minerals to be exported a year — taking the existing three crossings to five and doubling the country’s exports. Under the New Revival Policy a deep coal-processing plant will be commissioned in the mining sector.
Member of Parliament and Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry J. Ganbaatar noted the pressing need to promote mining in the regions and to build sustainable development. Drawing on his experience as the longest-serving chair of Parliament’s Standing Committee on the Economy, he stressed his commitment to inter-sectoral coordination, transport and logistics, attracting foreign investment and raising public understanding of mining. The Ministry will support responsible mining, protect the interests of foreign and domestic investors, avoid anything that obstructs or clouds the sector, and support the private sector and its competitiveness.
Mongolia ranks 17th in the world for coal production, with 15 coal basins, 307 licences, 29 hard-coal mines and 44 mines in total; statistics put total reserves at 33.2 billion tonnes. The record was set before the pandemic, in 2019, at 51,128,600 tonnes. Last year China imported 55 million tonnes of coking coal, 26 per cent of it — 14 million tonnes — supplied by Mongolia.
Mining accounts for 24 per cent of Mongolia’s GDP, 67 per cent of industry, 76 per cent of foreign direct investment and 93 per cent of exports. Last year it contributed 29.6 per cent of budget revenue — 4,114.4 billion tugrik.
Held for the tenth time, the two-day conference and exhibition runs under the slogan “Revival together”, with participants from government, NGOs and the private sector including the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry, the Mongolian Coal Association, the Mongolian National Mining Association, Erdenes Mongol LLC, MERA Group and the Economic Research Institute (ERI).
This year’s conference aims to define the next stage of development of the country’s coal sector, increase its contribution to the economy, attract investment to processing projects, shape corporate social responsibility, and improve conditions for coal exports, trade and transport.
Participants are discussing the New Revival Policy in the coal sector, coal-industry stakeholders, technological progress and innovation in mining, and changes in the coal market and their analysis.
The conference is organised jointly by Glogex Consulting LLC, the Mongolian Coal Association, the Chinese coal-market research consultancy Today Think Tank, and Fenwei Energy Information Services, developer of a coal-trading platform.