Earlier today (9 April), the Tavan Tolgoi Fuel Company started construction of a new coal briquette plant. The new facility is in Tuv Province, which is close to the capital, Ulaanbaatar. The new plant with an annual production capacity of 600 thousand tonnes of clean fuel is expected to begin operation in November 2020.

The plant will provide clean fuels to households in such suburban districts as Gachuurt, Nalaikh, Baganuur and Bagakhangai. In addition, the new facility will create 1000-1500 jobs.

In March 2019, the Mongolian government decided to totally ban the use of raw coal in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. Since then, air-pollution in Ulaanbaatar has decreased visibly. According to official data, the levels of harmful microscopic particulate matter – known as PM 2.5 – in the air decreased by nearly 60 percent during winter months of 2019-2020 from the previous year.

Smoke from the shantytown ger districts, where over 220,000 families live – or half the population of the capital – has long been identified as the main culprit of Ulaanbaatar’s chronic air-pollution. In the light of the ban, the government has put an alternative product on the market made from semi-coke, a by-product of coal.