US Ambassador to Mongolia Piper Campbell took questions from MMJ during her recent visit to Peabody Winsway’s Ereen mine restoration project. She sees “potential for tremendous growth and expansion” of cooperation between Mongolia and its third neighbor, and wants U.S. companies to play a bigger role in it.

Mongolia and Rio Tinto Group (RIO) made progress in resolving project financing and other disputes stalling the expansion of their $6.6 billion Oyu Tolgoi copper mine, a Mongolian board member of the venture said.

Mongolia’s second-quarter economic growth accelerated from the first three months of this year as the government boosted spending on infrastructure. Gross domestic product grew 14.3 percent in the three months from April through June, compared with 7.2 percent in the first quarter, according to the National Statistics Office of Mongolia. Expansion in the first half was 11.3 percent, compared with an annual pace of 12.4 percent in 2012.

Some 800 years after Genghis Khan forged its tribes into the world’s largest empire, Mongolians are awakening to lucrative and unsettling realities. A nomad rides on a horse near Ulaanbaatar. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

An Oyu Tolgoi copper shipment was announced twice but delayed. The first announcement said that copper export was scheduled on June 14th but was delayed. The second announcement gave the target date of June 21st but was again delayed with no new date given.

At a time when the London Metal Exchange is the closest it has ever been to entering China, the rival Shanghai Futures Exchange is looking for a bigger share of the $20.6 trillion global market in metals futures.
 

While the LME already handled $14.5 trillion of trade last year, backed by a network of more than 700 warehouses in 36 locations that ensure physical delivery, Chinese regulations from 2008 mean it has no depot in the biggest metal-consuming nation.