Mines in Orkhon basin under special investigation

The Ministry of Nature, Environment, and Tourism recently instructed concerned organizations to immediately inspect the activities of companies extracting minerals in areas falling under the Orkhon river basin area. This will be part of a special program of the State Specialized Inspection Agency (SIA) to check on the ways mining companies work in all 21 provinces. The Head of SIA’s Environmental and Mining Monitoring Department, D. Tserendav, has said seven teams are engaged in the program that will last a month.

Referring to the special instruction regarding the Orkhon river basin, Tserendav said 11 companies do extractive work there. Media repots drew attention to various irregularities in their work and the resulting outrage led to a suspension of operations. Given the importance of the issue, one representative of the Ministry has been included in the inspecting team. The SIA has no authority to cancel licenses, but has to submit its report and recommendations to the Mineral Resources Authority. Its council takes all decisions. An interesting feature of the present case is that all 11 companies are using licenses formally held by Mongol Gazar.

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