Protests in Ulaanbaatar have come to an end this week after continuing for over two weeks. A public hearing on “coal theft” was held on December 21. The hearing was attended by relevant government organizations to provide information regarding the export and transportation of coal, as well as citizens whose rights and legal interests are affected, as well as officials of state-owned and private coal companies.

During the open hearing, information about the coal theft cases since 2013 and their investigation status were discussed, as well as how much coal was exported from Mongolia to China in 2020-2022.

Mongolia started exporting coal in 1995. Since then, a total of 336 million tonnes of coal has been exported. 298.4 million tonnes or 80 percent of it has been exported since 2011. 90 percent of it was exported by the eight largest companies, led by “Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi”, “MAK”, and “Energy Resources”.

From 2013 to December 2022, investigative agencies received 36 complaints and information related to coal mining, export, transportation, and purchase. Investigations were conducted in 39 cases related to coal issues, and evidence collection was completed in 22 of them. Out of a total of 39 cases, four cases related to 23 people were indicted and transferred to the court.