The Standing Committee on Security and Foreign Policy has asked the Government to investigate why 12 mining licenses, granted near the Mardai uranium deposit and apparently in violation of the law, have not yet been cancelled.

According to the head of the committee, Z. Enkhbold, they had asked the Government to cancel the licenses and submit a report after visiting the area in August, requiring also that action be taken against the officials who had issued the illegal licenses.

The Mardai deposit was explored by Soviet geologists in 1971 and started production in 1974.  The concession returned to Mongolia in the early 1990s after some 600,000 tons of raw uranium had been extracted. The Soviets had constructed a 130-km railroad, some of it under the ground, to transport the ore.

Soon after coming into Mongolian control, 30 km of the railroad were removed and the rest was privatized without Parliament’s permission. 14 licenses for mining in areas surrounding the mine were granted illegally.

Even after a new law was approved, the Committee found during its visit that only two of the fourteen licenses had been returned to the State; the remaining 12 licenses being still in private hands.