The first monthly BCM meeting of members in the new year was held on January 26 under the new chairman, Mr. Laurenz Melchers, and under new seating arrangements. Mr. Melchers reported that a comprehensive nationwide suppliers’ database was being prepared by BCM to include details of all who supplied material and services to mining companies. Executive Director, Jim Dwyer, reported that 2009 BCM membership stands at 93 and that only about 10 members from 2008 have not renewed.  Since the December meeting, 5 new members have joined and were welcomed:  Prime Insurance, Tuushin, Aatai Way, Mongolian Marketing and Consulting Group (MMCG), and Matrix SAL Group.

Mr. Barrie Evans, Managing Director of Churchill’s and Head of the newly formed BCM Food & Beverage Working Group, spoke on safety and security in the food industry. It is a tacit demand of the customer anywhere that what he gets to eat is safe for him, but Mr. Evans explained why, despite the advance of scientific information and technological aids, hazards continue to permeate every step in the food chain, right from the primary producer to the trusting consumer. He specified some basic norms of care, like not storing food between 5 and 63 degrees, which is the happiest breeding temperature for bacteria. This thus precludes keeping food in room temperature. Also food should not be inadequately cooled, nor frequently reheated. One bright spot for those in Mongolia is that the Ministry of Agriculture has expressed its commitment to following internationally specified conditions.

Mr. Jim Dwyer reported on the state of a project, jointly undertaken with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, to meet the needs of mining companies by preparing personnel in two vocational training schools. The first of them is to be set up in Nalaikh district, near Ulaanbaatar, and the building, when completed, will have 44 classrooms, 14 administrative rooms, and facilities including a sports center. There is space for a five-story dormitory to be built. The construction work should be over by September and it can be owned outright. The other one, in Choir in Gobisumber, is a State school, but is open to a public private partnership or ownership transfer. GTZ is assisting in the project. Members were urged to submit their proposals on how best the two centers could meet their training and re-training requirements.

Mr. Sh.Erdenebulgaan of the Technical Services Department of Ulaanbaatar Railway Company gave an overview of Mongolia’s only railway. It has 1,815 km of tracks, 68 stations, and employs 16,000 people. Passenger traffic has been falling, but domestic freight movement has gone up. Transit freight has dropped much, and cannot be retrieved until a thorough overhaul is made of both the track and the running stock. Some of them are decades old, and the problem is compounded by the country’s terrain and climate. The company has ambitious plans to use the Millennium Challenge Grant to upgrade the railway to a level where it can meet all the demands of mining in the country as also fully exploit the advantage of the 700-km shorter distance it has over the Trans-Siberian railway in Asia-Europe traffic. About USD188 million from the MCA will be spent on buying 30 new locomotives, 150 freight wagons, and signal and track maintenance equipment.