CHARTS: The coming critical minerals trade war is BRICS short of a load
"While a large number of countries around the world continue to talk about securing raw material supply, China is actually doing something about it."
John Garnaut, writing a column in The Sydney Morning Herald, outlines both the promise and potential pitfalls that the mining boom is bringing to Mongolia:
When Albanese stopped for his drink at Ulan Bator, in July 2009, the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project was still an idea stuck in the Mongolian bureaucracy and Mongolia’s main share index was trapped beneath 5000.
But months later the Mongolian government inked the Oyu Tolgoi investment agreement. And last year the agreement officially commenced, construction began, international money began pouring in and Mongolia’s sharemarket index more than doubled to become the best performer in the world.
But Oyu Tolgoi is just part of the picture.
Oyu Tolgoi may be set to become one of the world’s top three copper mines in one of the world’s smallest economies and located just across the border from the world’s biggest copper consumer.
But the story has already been relegated to the bottom of the nation’s business pages. That’s because its Gobi Desert neighbour, Tavan Tolgoi – a coal project – is getting off the ground. It is the world’s second largest coal deposit, after China’s Shengli.
Michael Allan McCrae wrote this story. You can contact him at [email protected].
