S.Ganbaatar, President of the Confederation
of Trade Unions, answers questions on the recent cancellation of exploration
licenses of 254 gold mining companies working in river basins and forest areas.

Why
do you support the miners against the Government, when the law is meant to
protect the environment?

The intention behind the law is absolutely
right in that it seeks to protect the environment. Unfortunately it was passed
without adequate study and without considering the views of mining companies
and experts. These companies employ hundreds of people whose interests we have
to protect.

Some
people have blamed your involvement, so do you have any ideas to resolve the
problem?

We are not against revoking licenses of those
found guilty of pollution but we do not support any such total revocation of
licenses. Companies that use cyanide sodium should go, but we want a dialogue with
companies so that they work in an environment friendly way, pay all taxes, and
raise workers’ wages. Hundreds of workers must not suffer for what their
employers have done. The Trade Union will not accept this.

We also do not understand how these among 5,000
companies were chosen. It seems the axe has fallen only on companies that have
no political support and will now pay a bribe to get the license back. There is
enough reason to suspect that the whole exercise is meant to provide
politicians with funds before the election.