ULAN BATOR - MONGOLIA has suspended almost half of the country's mining licenses more than a year after the government passed a law to protect the landlocked country's environment, according to local media.
The resources and energy ministry has suspended nearly 1,800 licenses pending a government review, the Ardyn Erkh, or People's Right, newspaper reported on Thursday. Some 254 gold mining licences were also to be cancelled. It was not clear which companies would be affected or if the licences under review also related to gold mining.
Resources and energy minister Dashdorj Zorigt declined to comment when contacted by AFP on Saturday.
The gold mining licenses appear to have been revoked under a law passed in July 2009 that prohibits mining in forested areas and river basins, which account for less than 10 per cent of the largely desert country.
Most of the 254 licences were issued after 2000 with some handed out as recently as August this year, the Zuuny Medee, or Century News, newspaper said Friday.
Mr Zorigt told reporters last week that compensation claims filed by the affected mining companies would be considered. The number of licenses under review compares with more than 4,000 that the country has issued to date. It follows pressure from environmental groups to shut down mines that breach the country's environmental laws. -- AFP
