The State Special Inspection Agency recently made a
detailed study over six weeks of how mining license holding companies complied
with rules and regulations, especially as related to environmental protection
and reclamation, the land law, and the water law. The exercise was undertaken
on a special request from the Minister of Nature, Environment, and Tourism, who
had also demarcated the parameters of the enquiry.

Dornod, Sukhbaatar, and Khentii provinces were kept
outside the purview of the inspection. Around 190 companies in other provinces
were detected as having committed 474 violations ranging from operating without
a license, to operating in areas where no archeological survey has been made,
to operating without any water utilization agreement, and making no rehabilitation
work.