Number of Mine Workers to Increase with a Possible 40.000 New Jobs in the Next Five Years

Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour in collaboration with mining sectors are organizing a meeting under the topic “Labour Safety and Hygiene of Miners and Micro-Miners”.


In recent years, many internationally accepted mining companies have started operations in Mongolia as the mining sector is developing rapidly. They expressed that they prefer introducing standards that meet safety standards over working with complete capacity.

Micro-miners are more prone to accidents since they use equipment that cannot meet safety standards. Last year, there were 366 industrial accident and 80 people were killed because of them.

Executive Director of Mongolian Employers’ United Association Kh.Ganbaatar made some clarifications on this.

-It appears that there are so many safety boards. However, the number of accidents relating to miners is not dropping.

-First of all, the labour safety rules obeyed in Mongolia are too incomprehensible. Not in Mongolia, but worldwide, countless rules and procedures regarding labour safety were ratified in the last 30 years.

However, none of them can be applied in practice, as it is so hard to understand even for the employers. There must be few rules, which are understandable. Second of all, workers must feel and understand fully that obeying the labour safety rules and procedures is not about making the employers happy, but it is about their safety and their lives. If a worker is injured when working without safety hat, the mining company he/she works won’t be closed down. In contrast, that worker might get injured or even injured to the point where he or she can’t perform any jobs anymore.

-It seems that Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions concerns about this issue a little bit less than it should be?

-We don’t pay taxes for them to be critical only. They should be there for them for getting to know their hardship and difficulties they encounter. Today there are over 45 thousand people who work in mining sector, which is the 5 percent of the total labour force. However, in the near 5 years, it is likely to increase with another 40 thousand.

- “Oyutolgoi, SouthGobi Sands”, “Erdenet” mining corporation adheres to the labour safety rules and procedures. Is there any decrease in accidents due to this?

-Although “Erdenet” implements the world standard, unfortunately, it is just paper or contract only. I’m not saying they not obeying them totally, but it is not noticeable enough.

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