Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Tuvaan Tsevegdorj presented a report about the issuance of mineral exploration licenses, the benefits of the mining sector, as well as the ongoing efforts to enhance the value of mineral products and the operations of the mining exchange at the meeting of the Standing Committee on Economics of the Parliament on January 15.

Minister Tuvaan Tsevegdorj provided an overview of the operations of the mining exchange. The Law on Mining Exchange came into effect on June 30, 2023. With its implementation, a total of 14.9 million tons of coal and 604,800 tons of iron concentrate were traded through the Mongolian Stock Exchange in 2023, generating a total revenue of $2.1 billion and an additional revenue of $155.3 million due to price increases.

In 2024, a total of 859 transactions took place, trading 36.7 million tons of coal, 2.9 million tons of iron ore and concentrate, 17,600 tons of fluorspar, and 6,000 tons of copper concentrate, generating a total revenue of 16.26 trillion tugriks.

Additionally, Minister Tuvaan informed on the issuance of mineral exploration licenses. According to the 1994 Minerals Law, exploration licenses were initially granted by application, then to individuals and legal entities through application in 1997-2006. Since 2006, licenses have been awarded through both competitive bidding and application, and through application and competitive bidding from 2014. The 2017 Amendment to the Law stipulated that exploration licenses could only be granted through competitive bidding on areas designated by the government. In 2010, the Law on Prohibiting the Issuance of Exploration Licenses was adopted, resulting in no licenses being issued between 2010 and 2014.

Following the enforcement of the revised Law, competitive bidding for exploration licenses was incorporated into the Minerals Law. In accordance with the amendments, the selection procedure was approved, with exploration licenses being issued until April 2024.

74% of Mongolia's territory was off-limits for exploration and exploitation. The government of Mongolia designated 8.4 million hectares, and 8.6 million hectares in 2023, totaling 17 million hectares, as available for exploration. There are 2,726 valid licenses as of December 16, 2024, of which 981 are exploration licenses and 1,632 are exploitation licenses, covering 4.38% of the country's territory. Between 2018 and 2024, 533 exploration licenses were granted through competitive bidding, contributing 177 billion tugriks to the state budget.