Pennies from Heaven: Copper from Mongolia

Rhona Macintosh - The Core

Mongolia; it’s the Canada of Asia. So says luncheon keynote speaker Robert Friedland. It’s big; it’s cold, and it exports resources. Just like us! It has a pushy neighbour. Just like us!

In a rousing presentation on the healthy future of the copper industry Mr. Friedland showed off the remarkable Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. is thrilled to have discovered such an immense deposit of copper, especially as the need for copper grows. This will be the biggest foreign investment in Mongolia’s history, which will provide incredible opportunities for the citizens of this sparsely populated region.
Ivanhoe has also conducted environmental rehabilitation tests, as well as helped restore one of the area’s historical sites. Further ensuring minimal environmental impact is the new pulse technology used in surveying the ore deposits.

In addition to the impressive Oyu Tolgoi project, Mr. Friedland also talked about some of the vast coal deposits in the area. He projects that as the public increasingly abandons crude oil as a fuel source the need for coal will grow. Many power plants are fuelled by coal, and more hybrid cars on the roads will create a demand for more electricity. The green movement has impacted the mineral exploration and mining industry, but this does not spell doom in Friedland’s eyes.

For whether the climate changes or not; whether it gets warmer or colder; whether we blue bin or not… as long as humans walk the surface of the earth, humans will dig below it.