Community Perceptions of a Cooperation Agreement: A Case Study of the Oyu Tolgoi Cu-Au Mine in Southern Mongolia

• Author / Creator

  Enkhbayar, Chimedlkham

• The worldwide demand for minerals and metals has increased since the last century, and is expected to increase along with the global population growth and increases in standards of living. Meeting this demand for mineral resources necessitates mining and extraction, which inevitably involves land disturbance, environmental impacts, and disruption to local communities. In recent decades, the extractive industry has made significant improvements in management of environmental and social impacts, protection of the wellbeing of workforces, energy efficiencies, respect and support of human rights, employment, and economic opportunities, but problems still arise.
  Mongolia, a mineral-rich developing country, has been experiencing a mining boom with large mining developments, and its economy has become increasingly reliant on the resource sector. The Oyu Tolgoi mine is an example of one such development project: it is one of the world's largest Cu-Au mines, located in southern Mongolia, and has been operated by Turquoise Hill Resources since 2009. Under the Mineral Law (2006), Oyu Tolgoi Company signed a Cooperation Agreement with local community governments in 2015. This study aims to understand the Cooperation Agreement from the perspective of local communities. A phenomenological approach was used, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 participants including herders and residents of partner communities.
  Results from this study indicate that local communities are generally in favor of the mine because of employment and economic opportunities. Oyu Tolgoi Company annually allocates approximately 5 million USD determined by the Consumer Price Index of the US to the Gobi Oyu Fund to support the projects towards sustainable development of South Gobi communities. Few significant problems were reported by interviewed community members regarding implementation of the Cooperation Agreement to date, but it was noted that the agreement lacks effective methods for public discussion and communication between community citizens and the company. Moreover, an impartial method for allocating jobs within partner communities is required to minimize the impacts of Project Induced In-Migration on proximal towns such as Khanbogd, and to maximize benefits to more distal towns such as Manlai and Bayan-Ovoo. In addition to company-related issues, the current national policy on land tenure causes conflict between mining companies and local communities, and a more integrated approach is needed to better protect the rights of both parties.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • mining community
  • agreement

• Graduation date

  Fall 2019

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-edm7-r209

• License

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