Source: The Mongolian Mining Journal                          Date: 21 June, 2011

Mr. D.Dondov, State Honored Miner who also served as a minister, continues to be involved in the mining sector as a lecturer at the Mining institute, as an independent member of the Board of Directors of Erdenes-Tavan Tolgoi and of the Professional Council of Mineral Resources. Recalling his experience as the first Director of the Baganuur mine, he has appealed to Oyu Tolgoi LLC to reconsider its present practice and stated policy of ferrying their workers by plane and hiring local people as housekeepers or guards. He wants the company to, instead, provide all workers with comfortable conditions where they can live with their family. Otherwise, “when the deposit is exhausted, there will be little to show for the decades of mining except for some growth in Khanbogd district and some buildings, and there will be nothing permanent like Erdenet and Baganuur,” he says.

Even if the company cannot build complete townships as in the Soviet era, there should be a living area for the staff, with schools and kindergartens. Family life should not be disrupted. Shops, restaurants and such services will make their appearance because of demand for them. Maybe private construction companies should be allowed to build apartments to be sold to or rented by OT staff.  If OT provides water and electricity, the construction business will naturally flourish there.

He feels “sending staff by plane, giving them gers to live in, feeding them nice meals, washing their clothes free while it exploits our mineral resources is just cheating”, and adds, “OT hires our young people at high salaries, makes them work extremely hard, almost like soldiers, for 14 days and then sends them back to UB where they spend their money in night clubs. It would be different and much more productive if, instead, they lived in Khanbogd with their family. They will spend their money sensibly, instead of blowing it up. Their life will also be stable if they stopped living like migratory birds.”

Mr. Dondov praises the way Energy Resources is focusing on Mongolia’s future and doing things for long-term social development, and hopes Erdenes-Tavan Tolgoi will set an example of development through mining, building both new townships and processing plants. The most important thing to come out of the mining boom should be substantial improvement of people’s living standards.