Social, Economic and Environmental Baseline Study of the South Gobi aimag

Name of Client: The Ivanhoe Mines Mongolia Inc.

Name of associated firm: Dr. Catherine MacDonald,  Population Training and Research Center, Mongolian National University.

The South Gobi province of Mongolia has been a relatively remote and untouched part of the country.  This is set to change, with several major projects in the pipeline, including the government-owned Tavan Tolgoi coal mine (said to be the world’s largest undeveloped coal mine), other potential coal mining projects such as development of the Oyu Tolgoi, Nariin Sukhait, Baruun Naran and Ovoot Tolgoi deposits.  The establishment of these major projects will introduce a number of changes and impacts to the social, economic and physical environment of South Gobi province, both positive and negative. In order to plan for managing these changes, it is important to understand the current situation of the South Gobi province in considerable detail. The purpose of the baseline study is to collect detailed and comprehensive baseline data about the entire province.

Detailed Description of Actual Services provided :

• Designed detailed indicators and survey instruments for measuring key environmental, social and economic  standing of 15 soums in the South Gobi aimag
• Designed and tested methodologies to collect environmental, social and economic primary and secondary data from each of 15 soums
• Collected primary using the questionnaire, focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews on, among others:
  • Community development and leadership
  • Pastureland use and migration pattern of herders households
  • Wells and other water points and their attributes
  • Land tenure, land ownership and possession
  • Local government capacities to manage natural resources
  • Water sources: seasonal accessibility and quality                                                       
  • Land degradation, soil contamination and water pollution

• Organized the collection of 470 water and 490 soil samples and an analysis for complete chemical analysis, Cyanide, Mercury Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Antimony (Sb), Arsenic (As), Cu (copper), Chromium (Cr), Zinc (Zn), Iron (Fe) Nickel (Ni) by the Geological Laboratory, an only internationally certified lab in Mongolia
• Collected meteorological data for man years including annual and monthly average air temperature, total annual and monthly precipitation, wind velocity (last 5 years), air pressure, relative air humidity (last 5 years), number of days with strong wind (velocity 15m/sec and higher)
• Processed the collected data and prepared baseline indicators for social, economic and environmental     conditions of the aimag (province) by each soum (district).