Title: Mineral-Rich Mongolia Rapidly Becoming 'Mine-golia' : NPR
Headings: Mineral-Rich Mongolia Rapidly Becoming 'Mine-golia'
Mongolia Booms
Mineral-Rich Mongolia Rapidly Becoming 'Mine-golia'
Doubling GDP In A Decade
Opportunity In The Gobi
Avoiding 'Dutch Disease'
Threat To Traditional Industry
Question Of Distributing The Wealth
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Content: Mongolia is rich in copper, coal and gold, and it's in the midst of a mineral boom. This marks a profound change for a country where two out of every five people make their living herding livestock. Extractive industry has become so pervasive, some Mongolians now refer to their homeland as "Minegolia." For the poor, landlocked nation of fewer than 3 million people, mining represents a remarkable opportunity, but one that's also loaded with risks. Credit: Nelson Hsu/NPR
Doubling GDP In A Decade
Much of the focus these days is on Oyu Tolgoi, a mega-mine in Mongolia's South Gobi province, about 50 miles north of the Chinese border. The mine — owned by international mining giant Rio Tinto, Canada's Ivanhoe Mines and the Mongolian government — is scheduled to produce its first copper ore in June and grow dramatically over the next five years. Cameron McCrae, Oyu Tolgoi's Australian chief executive, estimates that the mine will be the world's third-largest copper and gold mine. The mine is playing a substantial economic role even before it's operational, McCrae notes. "At the moment, during construction, we probably make up 30 percent of the GDP of the country," he says.