By B.BYAMBADORJ

What is the wealth of Mongolia? Clearly, investors all around the world, influential economists and massive media outlets are all talking about the same thing; the mineral wealth of Mongolia.
This is our country and territory, we are free to dig up the ground and sell whatever is down there. But we cannot forget that we should also refill those holes and mines and restore them back to their previous conditions for the sake of another precious wealth of Mongolia, our unique nature and environment.
The explorations at Oyu Tolgoi, beginning in 2003, and further foreign investments in various Mongolian mining projects in the past few years, started the direct association of Mongolia with mining. Due to a low population density and general technological underdevelopment, most of Mongolia’s nature has largely been left in its original state.
Any mining operation comes with problems. A very serious one that is always being talked about, but lacks implementation – especially in Mongolia – is ecological restoration upon the mine’s closure or abandonment.
There are deposits rich with copper, gold, molybdenum and coal in Mongolia. Huge mining projects have commenced, with Oyu Tolgoi currently at the height of its construction process and scheduled to begin producing copper and gold by 2013. In addition to Mongolia being the third largest producer of fluorite in the world, one of the largest coal deposits on earth – Tavan Tolgoi – has planned to enter the international market through its IPO in June 2012.

However, progress in environmental restoration in Mongolia not looking as promising. Numerous mines were abandoned during the time of Communism and they are still here today, covering a total of 16,000 ha. The State Registration Office of Mongolia shows that majority of the mines that have not been restored are those pre-1990s abandoned mines. They are mostly abandoned, closed iron ore and coalmines, located throughout Dornogobi and Khentii Provinces.
Specialist from the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism (MNET), S. Erdenetsetseg said that a study was conducted on active, abandoned and closed mines in Mongolia in 2011, during a meeting at Mongol News’ Eco Conference Hall.
“From 2009 to 2010, there were 500 separate mining sites with a total of 3,984 ha of land in 56 sums in 15 provinces that were left abandoned with no sign of ecological restoration. Over 60% of them were exploration and search operations done by 141 private companies. The remaining 40% of destroyed and unrecovered land is the victim of illegal mining,” S. Erdenetsetseg said.
On the question of restoration and environmentally responsible mining standards in Mongolia, she said that there have been outdated standards being followed until recently, when in 2010 a new, up to date standards and policies on mining site restoration were introduced.
She stated that it was a giant step towards the success of Mongolian environmental restoration, as specific techniques and guidelines were introduced for technical and ecological restoration. Before, there were no guidelines for Mongolian jurisdiction to punish mining companies, which were irresponsible in their mine abandonments and closures. As a result, although the MNET inspectors report irresponsible mining companies to Mongolian authorities, the cases were almost always closed.
She added that since new technologies and ways to mine and exploit minerals are introduced every day, environment restoration policies must also be updated often.
The State Registration Office (SRO) reports that every year, around 11,800 ha territory is destroyed by mining operations. Around 59% of them are technically restored while around 2% is ecologically restored.
It is a known pattern that the environment is destroyed proportionally to the size and growth of mining operations. We all must be aware of this difficult but necessary problem that needs to be solved. If we do not, we may face severe consequences in the future.
Other countries can provide use with grim examples of what happens when restoration laws are not followed. Tui Mine in New Zealand was a copper and lead mine abandoned in 1973 after the company that owned it went bankrupt. Over the next several years, large, highly poisonous remnants formed a pool that was held back by a large dam.
In 2007, after the Government realized the dam was deteriorating, presenting a huge risk to human and animal life if it were to collapse, as the lake located below the dam supported a vast natural habitat and flowed into many other waterways. It took USD 10 million and three years to fix the problem because it was not addressed properly at the time of abandonment.
There is no denying that something like this could happen in Mongolia. The wealth of Mongolia may lie in its underground riches. We are reminded of the bright future of Mongolia when we hear about progress in our mining sector, but we must always remember the future consequences of what we do today, and deal with problems today.