During a press conference held on January 26, the Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia (MRAM) said it will contribute 232.6 billion MNT in state revenue in 2017. 

The Head of MRAM, B.Baatartsogt, told the media that MRAM had contributed 183.3 billion MNT in 2016. He highlighted that his office had exceeded the 160.3 billion MNT predicted to be contributed to the state in 2016 by 23.1 billion MNT. 

MRAM's 2017 outlook predicts that 37 billion MNT will be generated from mining licensing fees, two billion MNT from repayment for government exploration operations, and 5.5 billion MNT from other sources. 

In 2016, mining accounted for 17 percent of the nation’s GDP and 71 percent (6.2 trillion MNT) from the minerals manufacturing and processing industry. Mining products accounted for 3.7 billion USD (87 percent) of all exports. 

MRAM also reported on the current state of the mining sector, future projects being developed, and tax and royalty payments for mining licenses. B.Baatartsogt also spoke about the government’s Gold2 program to increase gold production to 25 tons annually by 2020. Mongol Bank has reported a steady increase in gold deposits since 2015, recently reporting that gold deposits in 2016 reached 18.51 tons. 

The coal reserves of the nation have increased by 1.2 billion tons. Of the 21 coal mining companies and 32 bituminous coal mining companies, six are run with government interests. MRAM reports that of Mongolia's 32 oil exploration fields, 25 are in operation with production sharing agreements. In 2016, 1.1 million tons of petroleum was produced, contributing 134.2 billion MNT to the state budget.

Source: The UB post