G.Ider asked some local government officials why most aimags are opposing grant of exploration licences in their territory. We give their explanations in their own words.
Bulgan aimag
D. Bumbayar of Bulgan: Our aimag received 38 licence requests from the Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia(MRAM), and we rejected all of them, after collecting public opinion at Citizens’ Assembly meetings in soums. In some areas, people said mining would encroach on agricultural land, while in some others, licences had been sought on special protected areas.
The Land Law stipulates that any mining or exploration licence request has to be assessed by professional paleontology and archaeology organisations, but this provision is being bypassed in the online allocation system.
Private entities often spend a lot of money on exploration, but their work cannot continue in the face of opposition from soums.
The MRAM and the Mining Ministry claim new exploration work will benefit not just individual soums, but also the national economy. However, according to law, local governments have to withhold support if Citizens’ Assemblies are found to be against grant of a licence.
Another interesting thing has been the interaction and exchange of opinion and experience between soum citizens’ assemblies. The result has been a consensus against allocation of licence.
Besides, Dashinchilen and Rashaant soums in Bulgan aimag were against any mining work in their specially protected areas.
DORNOD aimag
N.Uyanga, of the Development Policy Department of Dornod aimag: If we leave out oil exploration licences, the number of applications for mineral exploration we have received is 4. Lastly, we have received another one. I do not yet know what minerals are sought to be explored. Areas where exploration work had been on, were returned to state ownership but I hear a fresh selection will be made now. This will be made by the aimag’s Citizens’Assembly but this has not yet been convened. There seems to be no hurry because no time limit has been set for the decisions on oil.
Present indications are that the local government would not agree to issue any of the 4 exploration licences under request. The main reasons are that these will affect pastureland, as also areas of historic memory. There is also a feeling that there will be too many licences in just one soum.
The law calls for local citizens to take a decision ‘within 30 days’, but this is unlikely in the present case. In that event, as we have already told the MRAM, allocation of any exploration licence will not be easy. The citizens’ assemblies usually meet once a year, and if this practice is followed, we can expect several more applications to be discussed at the next meetings.
UMNUGOBI aimag
E.Gankhuyag, of the Development Policy Department of Umnugobi aimag: Our aimag received 84 requests for exploration licence, of which 12 were approved, but more requests are coming in, so I cannot give you the final numbers.
There are complications at the local decision-making level, mainly because of a lack of both coordination and information. Before the start of online issuance of exploration licences began, our suggestions were not invited, and decisions were taken centrally, resulting in frequent cases of licences being granted on protected areas.
Even with our aimag rejecting most applications, fresh ones keep pouring in. Some entities cannot accept their loss of a square where they had spent money and time, and have gone to court and the police against our decision.
We are working in a very organised manner and find no problem in taking a decision within 30 days, as prescribed by law.
TUV aimag
J.Battogtoh, responsible for Environment and Tourism in Tuv aimag: Altogether 179 exploration licence applications in the territory of our aimag were submitted in just 2 days. These were reviewed by the Land Authority and 65 were then forwarded to the cadastre department of MRAM. The cadastre department found 40 eligible for consideration and passed these on to us. The soum citizens’ assemblies will review and vote on these within 30 days, after which the aimag Civil Representatives Khural will be taking the matter up for discussion.
Since the online allocation of exploration licence began, people have realized how overlapping occurs, and how borders clash. Tuv aimag has established its own Mineral Council where all such anomalies will be discussed before taking a decision either way.