The suspension of issuance of mining licenses and of the practice of transferring permits as companies fail to explore for minerals will remain in place until a new law is passed, a statement from the President’s Office has said, without saying when legislation may come into effect.

“Our initial estimate is that this should not have any effect on overseas investors in Mongolia, although we’re still looking to clarify some details,”  Alisher Djumanov, the Beijing-based chief executive officer of Eurasia Capital Management, told Bloomberg. “The whole system for allocating licenses does need streamlining and it may well be that there is corruption in the way some licenses are given out.”

Mining Minister Dashdorj Zorigt declined to make an immediate comment.

 
“I think this is just a temporary situation,” said Alexander Molyneux, chief executive officer of SouthGobi Energy. “The government is checking mining licenses to make sure they are in order. If your license is in order, like ours is, then there shouldn’t be a problem.”