The Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry on Friday reported on mining operations for its monthly Transparent and Responsible Mining meeting.
By the end of February, the mining sector contributed 478 billion MNT to the state budget in the form of taxes and fees, according to the ministry. Out of this amount, copper generated 258.8 billion MNT, zinc 11.5 billion MNT, iron 4.3 billion MNT, gold 5.1 billion MNT, fluorspar 3.3 billion MNT, coal two million MNT, and other minerals generated 9.7 billion MNT in taxes.
In the past month, Mongolia was reported to have mined and produced eight million tons of coal, 239,100 tons of copper concentrate, 856.2 kilograms of gold, 17 tons of molybdenum concentrate, 383,300 tons of iron ore concentrate, 1,300 tons of fluorspar concentrate, 15,900 tons of zinc concentrate, and 1.1 million barrels of oil. Compared to the same period of last year, produced coal increased by 1.5 million tons (23.1 percent), copper concentrate by 30,900 tons (14.8 percent), iron ore concentrate by 32,600 tons (9.3 percent), and zinc concentrate by 1,000 tons (6.7 percent).
However, declines were marked in productions of fluorspar concentrate (down 35 percent), gold (down 32.9 percent), oil (down 6.4 percent), molybdenum concentrate (down four percent), and copper cathode (down 3.6 percent).
In the stated period, the total production of industrial sector reached 2.5 trillion MNT, surging by 400.3 billion MNT, or 19.3 percent, since February 2018. Meanwhile, the total production of mining and quarrying amounted to 1.8 billion MNT, up by 331.9 billion MNT (22.5 percent). This was mainly driven by coal mining, which rose by 71.9 percent or 338.5 billion MNT, and iron ore mining, which increased by 1.6 percent or 12.8 billion MNT.
The Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry underlined that mining and quarrying makes up 73 percent of total industrial production in Mongolia.
Sales of industrial products
The revenue from sales of industrial products reached 2.8 trillion MNT in February, up by 17.8 percent compared to the same period of last year. Sales of mining products and industrial products amounted to two trillion MNT, surging by 20.1 percent over the past year.
According to the monthly report, 73.4 percent of industrial products and 64.6 percent of mining products were sold in international markets.
Foreign trade
The trade turnover of February amounted to 1.9 billion USD, marking a 23.4 percent, specifically 366.7 million USD, rise in the past year.
The foreign trade surplus reached 256.1 million USD as of February as a result of increases of 30.4 percent and 15.4 percent in exports and import respectively. By the end of February, total exports reached 1.1 billion USD, while import reached 837.5 million USD.
Licensing
As of March 14, there were 3,022 mineral exploration and mining licenses in use in Mongolia, according to the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry.
Changes in licensing in February:
Oil production
Mongolia is aiming to mine 8.15 million barrels, or 1.1 million tons, of oil this year and generate 223.4 billion MNT of revenue from mining to the state budget. As of March 7, oil producers mined 1.19 million barrels, or 161,509 tons, of oil, of which 1.13 barrels (153,450 tons) were exported.
As of March 12, Mongolia had oil reserves sufficient to last for 39 days nationwide. In particular, there’s enough A-80 petrol reserves to last for 83 days, AI-92 for 36 days, diesel for 34 days and TS-1 aircraft fuel to last for 31 days.
State to invest 24.6 billion MNT in geological exploration
The ministry plans to carry out a total of 56 mining projects with state funds this year. Seventeen of them will reportedly be launched later this year.
According to the ministry, 37 projects are aimed to develop 1:50000 scale geological mapping and general exploration work, 14 projects for thematic research in Mongolia or smaller regions, four projects for national geological mapping, and one project for foreign cooperation.
The government approved 13.3 billion MNT for these projects and so far, 13.35 billion MNT have already been spent.
