Source: Reuters, Unuudur                       Date: 22 April, 2011

Mongolia halted truck deliveries of coal from the South Gobi region to China on Tuesday, with the ban expected to be a temporary measure, after China closed a part of the border citing a technical glitch, a lobby group for the Mongolian mining sector said. The South Gobi region is the location of the Tavan Tolgoi property, one of the world's biggest coal deposits. Mongolia has yet to build railway infrastructure in the region and exporters continue to depend on trucks.

"The Chinese side said they had some problems (at the border crossing of Zamiin Uud) with their computer software registering the vehicles," said Mr. B. Enkhbaatar, chairman of the Mongolian Mining Club. "It affected all traders in Mongolia and so the Mongolian Government is taking countermeasures."

Official Chinese news agency Xinhua said Mongolia suspended coal deliveries following a spate of accidents on a dirt road running from Tavan Tolgoi. Citing local media, it said 23 people were killed in 31 road accidents on the Tavan Tolgoi highway in 2010, with another three fatalities in the first quarter of 2011.

The closure of work at the Chinese customs post at Ereen for an entire day put about 2,000 Mongolians to much difficulty. They were mostly traders who could not receive their import consignments and many of them complained that the long wait was very inconvenient as there was not even any drinking water available. Both the Mongolian Consul in Ereen and the First Secretary in the Chinese Embassy in Ulaanbaatar said strong winds had disrupted power transmission and brought operations at the Chinese customs point to a halt.

This being the official reason behind the Chinese action, the Mongolian decision to close the 245-km road from Ukhaa Khudag to Gashuunsukhait is also being explained away as not being a countermeasure, even though many saw it as a tit for tat, denying China the coal that 400 trucks carry every day. More than 60% of these vehicles are driven by Chinese, who are legally employed, with the Mongolian Government charging MNT210,000 every month for every non-Mongolian worker.