Mongolia Energy

With the world’s 16th-largest proven uranium reserves according to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 2011 Red Book, Mongolia is making progress to restart production and export for the first time since 1995.

Much of the attention in the mining sector in late 2012 had been on Oyu Tolgoi, where production of copper and gold was imminent but the focus was instead on the controversy over how the government and its partners would split the revenue. Meanwhile, developments at Tavan Tolgoi (TT), the other flagship mining project in Mongolia, were ongoing at a...

Though Mongolia’s mining industry is still relatively young and new factors may change the calculus, for now its fortunes are expected to rise and fall with China, which is the primary buyer for the country’s mining output and highly likely to continue in that role.

autumn session that year, a group of legislators called on the government to seek a renegotiation of the OT deal. At issue was the point at which the government has the right to increase its stake in the mine from 34% to 51%. According to the initial agreement, Mongolia can boost its stake to 51% once Rio Tinto has recovered the costs of developing it, or after 30 years....

Mongolia’s reputation as a suitable destination for foreign investment suffered in 2012, as mining companies along with those in other sectors came under a new and restrictive legal regime: the Strategic Entities Foreign Investment Law of Mongolia, which passed in May. This legislation, combined with a high-profile merger, the government’s...

With ageing facilities, constraints that discourage efficiency and growing demand, Mongolia’s energy sector faces a number of challenges. Geography makes it reliant on one supplier for refined fuels, with a tenuous supply and a high purchase price. Several projects in the works now have the potential to reverse this trend, if they are successful....