By Dessa Bayrock (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: November 23, 2011
I’ve always wanted to go to Mongolia, because, according to my nine-years-old self, that is where the dinosaurs are. A decade later, I’m not entirely sure where this conviction came from, but Mongolia remains appealing to me. It’s roughly three times the size of France, sandwiched between Russia and China, and covered in rolling hills of grazing land. Up until a few years ago one of its biggest exports was goats’ wool. There’s a kind of exotic elegance in having a population that’s two-thirds nomadic. Although it’s hardly the first name that springs to mind when it comes to booking a vacation, it lays claim to any number of adjectives that clog travel pamphlets: Hyper-real. Stunning. Colourful. Starkly beautiful.
Unfortunately, something spoils this idyllic scene; Mongolia is in the throes of a mining boom. It might be a quiet country, but at one point or another it came to someone’s attention that Mongolia was sitting on a literal gold mine.
And not just gold – copper, iron, zinc, coal, rare earth elements and oil are all hidden away in the hills and folds of Mongolia. In a global economy where refiners and manufacturers are beginning to tap out the places these things have been found before, the realization that there is still a huge untouched chunk of everything is exciting. The best part is the sheer volume of these deposits – one copper and gold vein in particular, “Turquoise Hill”, is almost as big as the Yukon.
This is fantastic news for Mongolia; finally, they have the resources to play with the big boys. Since mining operations began running full-swing in the last five years or so, Mongolia has started exporting these resources in a big way — to China, the US, and a myriad of other countries including Canada.
This seems like nothing but gravy for Mongolia, but, as with everything, there is a downside to this surge of mining activity. It’s important to keep in mind that most of Mongolia’s population is nomadic, and depends on the wide grazing land for income. There are few cities, apart from the capital. There isn’t really a healthcare system to speak of, or much infrastructure of any kind, and the concern is that the government of Mongolia is far more interested in developing mining practices. Because Mongolia hasn’t experienced anything even remotely similar to this mining boom before, there are few structures in place to protect the workers or the environment. The mining camps springing up now could easily turn into permanent towns, and then into permanent cities – but without rhyme, reason, or civic planning, this would likely result in widespread slums. Mining requires a largely male workforce, and the subsequent male-based mining towns become a magnet for prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases.
Nothing should be rushed into less than large economic decisions, but it seems that Mongolia is rushing into this one. It gleefully describes itself as “a wolf on the move,” but only time will tell if this wolf is the Alpha, or the one that ends up a rug in some hunter’s man-cave. Mongolia, we’ve always been there for each other. We’ve grown up together, and now we’re in that stage where we think we’re invincible. Don’t do something you’ll regret – the hangover might be more than you can handle.
