Warning against acting in a hurry to decide on the
location of the proposed copper smelter and other industrial units,
Ts.Davaatseren, a senior official at the Minerals Resources Agency, has told
The Mongolian Mining Journal that a number of factors, such as water supply,
energy, and environmental impact, apart from economic viability, regional
development, availability of raw material and transportation of the output and
the market for it, have to be carefully considered first. “We should not be in
a rush,” he said. “A major infrastructure project is not the same as building a
house. It will require a lot of time.”

The final choice has to be made on professional grounds,
and this calls for inputs from geological, mining and other related scientific
experts. There are not many such specialized institutions in Mongolia now, and
Davaatseren also fears that “we cannot hope either to build or to run large
factories by ourselves, given the severe lack of Mongolian professionals”.