Mongolian Parliament or State Great Khural took recess starting today and Oyu Tolgoi deal

Mongolian Parliament or State Great Khural took recess starting today until the fall. Last week, the Khural authorized the Government of Mongolia to enter and sign re-negotiation on Oyu Tolgoi, gold and copper resource in South Govi region of Mongolia. Bipartisan lawmakers were very critical of the draft Investment Agreement submitted by the Government. However, it fell short of directly rejecting the investment agreement.


Now, Government can do re-negotiate with international miners without Khural ratifying the deal. However, Goverment has to re-negotiate within framework of existing tax laws of Mongolia including infamous 68% windfall profits tax law.
Khural rejected draft laws to revise tax laws submitted by the Government.
Right now, I don't want to be in the shoe of Zorigt Dashdorj, the minerals minister who is heading the working group to re-negotiate with the miners. He said " basically, we have to re-negotiate everything with the miners. We are not sure if Rio will be involved in the Oyu Tolgoi." Poor guy, put in a very difficult position.

This week, it should be clear if Rio will be still involved in the Oyu Tolgoi project as the miners and our Government sits down for another round of negotiation. No one knows if this be will be the final negotiation of Oyu Tolgoi saga which has been continuing since 2005.