Mongolia’s Mining Controversies & the Politics of Place 271 MONGOLIA’S MINING CONTROVERSIES AND THE POLITICS OF PLACE Sarah Combellick-Bidney When Robert Friedland first set foot on this desolate land in 2001, the mining magnate saw a windswept desert, some rocks, and the opportunity to turn Mongolia into the world’s next big natural–resources play. Since then, his Vancouver-based company, Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., has spent more than $400 million to develop what may become one of the world’s biggest copper and gold mines … If all goes well, Oyu Tolgoi could double Mongolia’s gross domestic product—and help lift the landlocked nation of nomadic herders out of poverty. Mongolia’s response? Protesters have burned Mr. Friedland’s image in effigy in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. Wall Street Journal, 2007 A developing country, that’s what they call us, right? Devel- oped countries, developing countries, least developed countries. We would not choose these terms. If you ask me, development is not a Mongolian concept at all. It comes from the West. A Mongolian professor of human development When Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe Mines finally signed the contract with Mongolia’s government that specified ownership arrangements for the Oyu Tolgoi copper reserves in the South Gobi, they did not end the controver- sies about mining in Mongolia. In fact, recent news indicates that mining activities are as hotly contested as they have ever been. On 20 April 2010, after a series of uproars about the number of licenses granted for mining exploration and the extent of land they cover in Mongolia, President Elbegdorj banned all new licenses. Ten days later, the National Security Council met and altered his decree to cover only licenses for mineral explo- ration. Hundreds of groups are now keeping watch on the new licenses that are granted, and a recent report indicated that the legislation has reduced the percentage of Mongolian land contracted by mining compa- nies by seven percent. (Ardyn Erh 2010) 272 Sarah Combellick-Bidney Controversies about mining are not new to Mongolia, and they are never static. There are always new turning points, and earlier controversies pro- vide essential context for understanding current developments on the mining front. This study follows a critical juncture in the mining contro- versies of 2007, when negotiations on Oyu Tolgoi were stalled and news- papers and magazines covered wide-ranging debates about the role of mining in Mongolia’s future. The year 2007 saw the passage of the contro- versial windfall tax law that mandated a 68 percent tax on foreign compa- nies’ windfall mining profits. The passage of the windfall tax law came as a shock to the mining companies, and consequently impacted Mongolia’s standing as a potential investment partner. Though the law was later repealed, it signaled that Mongolia would not be the wide open market that many investors had hoped, and new entrants into the extractive sec- tor would not enjoy unequivocal support in Mongolia. The conversations that took place in Mongolian households and on the streets of Ulaanbaatar during this time are vital to understanding the enduring ongoing volatility of mining policy, and the standards by which Mongolians judge and debate the use of their land. Following Robert Friedland’s exploratory visit described in the quote above, Mongolia’s significant and relatively untapped mineral resources drew international attention. Companies from North America, Europe, and Asia flocked to Mongolia to negotiate mining deals with the govern- ment. How did the contracts become so embroiled in controversy, when so many powerful domestic and foreign entities had a stake in maintain- ing a favorable investment climate? I use a case study of development discourse among Mongolian politi- cians, NGO leaders, businessmen and scholars to highlight the ways in which critics were able to erode the legitimacy of the mining contracts as a means of economic development. While the rhetoric of global develop- ment casts mining as a standard means of achieving economic develop- ment, domestic critics in Mongolia representing a wide range of interests engaged in the ‘politics of place’ to raise questions about the effects of ‘big mining’ on their society and their land. Both the government of Mongolia and the mining sector proved to be more susceptible to such questions than investors had predicted. There are many ways to begin a discussion of mining in Mongolia. From collapsed Soviet mines in which families in Nalaih scavenge for coal, to the initial explorations by ‘big mining’ that placed Oyu Tolgoi (Turquoise Hill) on the map as the potential largest copper reserve in the .