Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan struggle with the curse of mineral wealth
Both countries are wrangling with miners on how to share benefits and costs
TWO POOR, fragile, post-Soviet democracies, two spectacular holes in the ground. Mongolia’s Oyu Tolgoi, or “Turquoise Hill”, is a vast mine in the southern Gobi desert, just 80km from the Chinese border. Kumtor in the Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan, operating since 1997, is if anything even more remote. Located beside a series of glaciers at 13,000 feet above sea level, it is the world’s second-highest gold mine.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Mine for the taking”
Asia November 6th 2021
From the November 6th 2021 edition
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