1st Edition

The Impact of Mining Lifecycles in Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan Political, Social, Environmental and Cultural Contexts

    296 Pages 26 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    296 Pages 26 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This volume investigates how mining affects societies and communities in Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan.

    As ex-Soviet states, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan share history, culture and transitions to democracy. Most importantly, both are mineral-rich countries on China’s frontier and epi-centres of resource extraction. This volume examines challenges communities in these countries encounter on the long journey through resource exploration, extraction and mine closure. The book is organised into three related sections that travel from mine licensing and instigation to early anticipation of benefit through the realisation of social and environmental impacts to finite issues such as jobs, monitoring, dispute resolution and reclamation. Most originally, each chapter will include a final section entitled "Notes from the field" that presents the voice of in-country researchers and stakeholders. These sections will provide local contextual knowledge on the chapter’s theme by practitioners from Mongolia and Central Asia. The volume thereby offers a distinctively grounded perspective on the tensions and benefits of mining in this dynamic region. Using Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan as case studies, the volume reflects on the evolving challenges communities and societies encounter with resource extraction worldwide.

    The book will be of great interest to students and scholars of mining and natural resource extraction, corporate social responsibility and sustainable development.

    Chapter 1. Mining Lifecycles in Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan
    Troy Sternberg, Kemel Toktomushev and Byambabaatar Ichinkhorloo

    Part I: Exploring Mining – When Mining Comes to Town – Initiating Mining Infrastructure

    Chapter 2. A Pesky Story of Chinese Mining in Kyrgyzstan
    Kemel Toktomushev

    Chapter 3. Contestations over Mining Policies and Mineral Ownership in Mongolia from the Socialist Period to the Present

    Byambabaatar Ichinkhorloo

    Chapter 4. Gold mining conflicts in Kyrgyzstan: when Context and Culture Matters
    Aimeerim Tursalieva

    Chapter 5. Filling a Hole? Compensation for Mining-Induced Losses in the South Gobi
    Ariell Ahearn and Bayarsaikhan Namsrai

    Part II: Extracting information - Community Engagement with Mining

    Chapter 6. Social Impact Assessment in Mongolia: Development and Trends
    Baigalmaa Purevsuren, Tegshbayar Darambazar and Purevdulam Lkhagvasuren

    Chapter 7. Mining Melodrama in Mongolia: a Gurvantes Case Study
    Tserennadmid Mijiddorj and Tsendsuren Purevsuren

    Chapter 8. Does the Transparent Information Empower Communities? Natural Resource Data Accessibility and use Practices in Mongolia
    Delgermaa Boldbaatar

    Chapter 9. Resource Extraction, Environmental Concerns and Social License to Operate in Kyrgyzstan
    Rahat Sabyrbekov and Indra Overland

    Chapter 10. Mining Shadows on Mongolia's Environment and Heritage
    Erdenebuyan Enkhjargal

    Part III: Rehabilitating Land and Society

    Chapter 11. Reclamation: Lack of Awareness and post-mining Mismanagement in Kyrgyzstan
    Almaz Tchoroev

    Chapter 12. After Life-of-Mine: Rethinking Mine Closure
    Stephen Lezak and Gantulga Munkherdene

    Chapter 13. Looking Back and Looking Forward – Conclusions on Reducing Site Level Conflict Associated with Mining
    Jill Shankleman

    Biography

    Troy Sternberg is a senior researcher in the School of Geography at the University of Oxford, UK. He is the editor of multiple books, including Arid Land Systems (2019) and Societies and Climate Hazard Crises in Asia (Routledge, 2017).

    Kemel Toktomushev is a research fellow at the University of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan. He is the author of Kyrgyzstan: Regime Security and Foreign Policy (Routledge, 2016).

    Byambabaatar Ichinkhorloo is a director of the International Institute for the Study of Nomadic Civilizations under the auspices of UNESCO. He is also a lecturer at the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, National University of Mongolia.