Decision on industrial units cannot be hurried

Ts.Davaatseren, Head of the Mining and Research Department at MRAM, explains why many aspects have to be carefully studied before beginning work on setting up factories and how Mongolia misses inputs from professional institutions.   

The Minerals Resources Agency of  Mongolia and the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy have been jointly studying the best location for copper smelters. How is it going?

Parliament has approved in principle a proposal to construct a smelter and that is why the MRAM and the Ministry are evaluating the choices of location, as also the right time to begin building, what infrastructure will be needed, and marketing strategies and sales opportunities. Nothing is final as yet, but at the moment, we are focusing on three options
The Ministry of Construction and Urban Development has published its guidelines for building an industrial complex in Sainshand, Donorgobi which will include a smelter. However, if a number of large factories are to come up in Sainshand, water supply and energy issues have to be resolved first. The Water Authority does not know if there is any water reserve in Sainshand to meet such increased demands. There has been no decision on what the capacity of the smelter will be, but whatever is decided, assured water supply is a basic issue.
 
How realistic are suggestions to bring water to the Sainshand complex through a canal from the Kherlen river?

There are political imperatives that stand in the way. There is an agreement with the Chinese whereby they will build a power station near the Shivee Ovoo coal mine. Work on that has not yet begun because of the same water supply problem. Several studies were made on  digging canals from the Kherlen to Shivee Ovoo, but politics has stalled the work. In such a situation, the proposed canals do seem unlikely.

Parliament has said the feasibility study on the smelter should be finished in six months and construction should start in April next year. Will either be possible?

We did not have any state policy on mining for long and there was no Ministry responsible for geology and mining from 1996 to 2008. Things just drifted along without any comprehensive policy and we lost much valuable time. A ministry of mining was formed only after the 2008 election, and we have undertaken studies but we are not yet ready to do anything conclusive and concrete. We should not be in a rush. A major infrastructure project is not the same as building a house. It will require a lot of time.

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