The Ministry of Nature, Environment,
and Tourism recently instructed concerned organizations to immediately inspect
the activities of companies extracting minerals in areas falling under the
Orkhon river basin area. This will be part of a special program of the State
Specialized Inspection Agency (SIA) to check on the ways mining companies work
in all 21 provinces. The Head of SIA’s Environmental and Mining Monitoring Department,
D. Tserendav, has said seven teams are engaged in the program that will last a
month.

Referring to the special instruction regarding the Orkhon river basin,
Tserendav said 11 companies do extractive work there. Media repots drew
attention to various irregularities in their work and the resulting outrage led
to a suspension of operations. Given the importance of the issue, one
representative of the Ministry has been included in the inspecting team. The
SIA has no authority to cancel licenses, but has to submit its report and
recommendations to the Mineral Resources Authority. Its council takes all
decisions. An interesting feature of the present case is that all 11 companies
are using licenses formally held by Mongol Gazar.