Source: Business Council of Mongolia                           Date: 12 September, 2011

Discover Mongolia kicked off Thursday to a huge reception by investors and industry professionals.  The event is Mongolia's leading mining conference for the latest news, introduction of new companies, and opportunity to bring industry professionals and investors together.  Day One featured reflections on long-term investment in Mongolia, present and future opportunities, and updates from Mongolia's largest mining sites.

James Passin, the fund manager of at Firebird Management, looked back at years of investment working for the first institutional investor in Mongolia. He described the Mongolian Stock Exchange (MSE) as “dull,” when he first came to Mongolia. Trades were infrequent and activity was low. Yet, now the MSE is ranking among the top markets in the world. He described the storm of activity that has generated and the exciting opportunities for growth and to attract new investment to Mongolia with companies listed on the MSE.

UBS Managing Director Ghee Peh quickly ran through the synergies in Mongolia, a huge boon for the nation. China is a voracious consumer of coal and copper, two minerals Mongolia has in droves. M. Uyanga, the business development manager of Ernst and Young gave an honest look at the risks investors should keep in mind. These include a shortage of skilled workers and infrastructure, resource nationalism, maintaining social licenses, prices and currency, and fraud and corruption.

The day ended with a number of speeches given by company leaders. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Prophecy Resources, John Lee discussed Mongolia's pressing need for energy. The company has turned its focus on providing energy, finding it more profitable than the sale of thermal coal.  Other speakers included B. Enebish, the executive director of Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi, giving a report on the steady progress on the development of its enormous coal mine; and David Paull, the executive director of Aspire Mining, discussing the development of coking coal in northern Mongolia.

In one of the most anticipated speeches, Cameron McRae, the chief executive of Oyu Tolgoi and country director of Rio Tinto, reported on the progress on Oyu Tolgoi, the world's largest undeveloped copper and gold deposit. He said by the time the mine's development is finished, it will produce 460,000 tons per year of copper, in addition to large stocks of gold and silver. Oyu Tolgoi will produce 24 percent of all the copper coming out of Asia, a great deal of which will be consumed by China. Finally he ended his talk with a few words on Rio's status as a gold partner of Mongolia's Olympics team. Some of the gold used for the 2012 Olympic medals will have originated from Mongolia and McRae wished Mongolia’s athletes luck in bringing back some of the gold that came from Oyu Tolgoi.