Parliament last week (April 17) started initial discussions of the draft amendments to the minerals law in a meeting held behind closed doors for “national security reasons.”

The discussions, which will continue this week and finish next week, will be kept confidential, as agreed by both major political parties the MPRP and DP.
The draft law details the percentage of shareholders, license grant procedures, distribution of revenue, and legal period of an investment and redefines what a strategically significant mineral deposit is.

Resolute Reform, a civil movement, organized a weekend public demonstration behind the State House demanding the Parliament openly discuss the draft with the public.

On April 18, it was also announced that an additional draft law was initiated by E.Bat-Uul, R.Erdeneburen, and M.Zorigt to include legal regulation on the product sharing agreement.

“What is important has been left by ongoing draft amendment,” Bat-Uul said.

“So, we proposed an additional draft law. A product-sharing agreement is a must on those strategic mines.

“So Mongolia can have a risk-free management by just getting more than 50 percent of products mined by project investors,” he said.

“Also, the investor must guarantee they use ecologically friendly technology.”

The UB post

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