Ya.Sodbayar, Director of the
State Specialized Inspection Agency, reported to the Government meeting on
Wednesday that pollution in the Orkhon river has reached a level just below the
highest. The Agency was instructed by the Prime Minister to examine the issue
after he had heard numerous complaints from citizens of Arkhangai province about
how mining had destroyed the purity of the river water.

Sodbayar blamed two gold
mining companies, Altan Dornod Mongol and Mongol Gazar, for the state of
affairs. They operate in areas near the Uli , the Ulaan Chuluut, the Ulziit and
the Shiirt streams, which flow into the Orkhon . Both work under special
licenses and have not followed any precautionary steps to guard against pollution. 

The Government will take up
the issue at its next meeting and take a decision.