IIn this photo released by Rio Tinto, Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, left, shakes hands with Rio Tinto's Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm during the start of underground production at the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Khanbogd village, Umnugobi province, Mongolia Monday, March 13, 2023. Mongolia plans to channel revenue from rising copper exports into an economic development fund to reap more benefit from its mineral riches and root out corruption, the North Asian nation's prime minister said Tuesday, following the opening of a major expansion of its biggest mine.
Mongolia's prime minister says the North Asian nation will channel revenue from rising copper exports into an economic development fund to reap more benefit from its mineral riches and root out corruption. Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene spoke to The Associated Press after attending the opening of a major expansion of the country's biggest copper mine at Oyu Tolgoi in the Gobi Desert in southern Mongolia. Oyu Tolgoi is the latest effort to generate prosperity from Mongolia’s copper, coal, gold and other minerals following three decades of complaints about economic malaise and corruption. Mongolia gets most of its export revenue from minerals and is benefiting from surging sales of electric cars whose motors use a lot of copper wire.
