Kamil Alyautdinov, Vice President, Minerals METSO
Could you give us an overview of Metso’s presence in Central Asia, and how Mongolia fits within this structure?
We have representative offices in Karaganda and Ulaanbaatar, and our headquarters office and central operations are in Almaty. Metso has been present in Mongolia since the early 1990s, being part of the copper mining journey of Erdenet, one of the largest copper mines to this day. Our Ulaanbaatar city-center office hosts five employees, but, this year, we plan to open a local support and warehouse center, operative 24/7, to be closer to our customers in the country. What products and services within Metso’s portfolio are the most important for the Mongolian market?
We mostly concentrate on mineral processing, aggregates, and refining, increasingly leaning more into green technologies with energy-saving differentiators, as well as lifecycle services to improve metrics from production rate to low cost of ownership, planning, and training. We see Mongolia showing strong appetite for green technologies. Could you elaborate on the significance of the new warehouse center that Metso is to build in Mongolia?
Without access to a port, logistics in Mongolia can be challenging and therefore suppliers must have a robust presence to make sure products are available when the customer needs them in the quickest time. With the new support and warehouse, Metso will be able to manage better planning, shorter lead times to customers, and essentially be able to attend to our customers in the best possible way. Our goal, moving forward, is to continue investing in the country, fully dedicated to the demands of our customers, and, from this year, make available a team of service engineers and technical assistants that can perform site visits when required. Besides boosting our service offer, we are also increasing our portfolio, always ahead of the curve with new digital solutions and striving to be closer to our customers, brainstorming together with them on the best solutions.
Erdembayar Sukhee, Chief Representative, ABB
Could you tell us more about ABB's Ability™ E-Mine Concept?
ABB has recently launched the ABB Ability™ eMine concept, an all-electric mine that could help the mining industry, globally responsible for 7% of GHG, to minimize its carbon footprint. Within the ABB Ability™ platform, we work with OEMs such as Komatsu, Hitachi, etc., to introduce solutions such as a trolley system for dump trucks. These innovations are being presented to Mongolian miners such as Oyu Tolgoi, Erdenet, and MAK. What have been the adoption trends in terms of electrification in Mongolia?
Grid power costs in Mongolia are subsidized and therefore significantly lower than the cost of diesel, which indirectly drives the adoption of electrical equipment. We see a great interest in retrofitting trucks to switch to electric-powered ones. Despite what people may think, Mongolia adheres to the latest technologies available globally. Access to power is a challenge for remote operators. What are the solutions?
Junior companies tend to be in remote areas that lack grid connectivity, so they need to secure expensive diesel generators. If they don’t generate their own power, they need to link to a transmission line at a long distance. That escalates project economics, becoming an obstacle in the mine development and financing; this infrastructure gap can even kill a project because it takes a large mineral resource to justify the construction of a dedicated power plant. Mongolia has been planning to build more power plants for many years now, yet little new generation has been brought online. A few private investors have built renewable capacity, but these are few and are not able to fully cope with peak load and high demand times. The country needs more power generation options, such as hydropower, wind, and solar energy with battery storage, to ensure a stable power supply for existing and future demand.