Technical Assistance in Mongolia

Revenue Watch provided capacity building and technical assistance to the Mongolian government throughout the negotiation of its first large mining contract with Ivanhoe Mines and the rewriting of its tax and minerals legislation. In addition to a public awareness campaign focused on government revenues from mining operations, since 2005 Revenue Watch offered expert advice to Mongolia's Parliament, administration, journalists and the public about alternative mining revenue structures.

Thanks in part to RWI advice, Mongolia passed a new mineral resources law in 2006 which greatly improved revenue transparency and environmental safeguards, increased royalty rates and instituted a windfall profits tax (later repealed).  Revenue Watch further assisted the government team in its negotiations with Ivanhoe Mines by providing economic analysis of the consequences of various contract options. Revenue Watch and its partners successfully advocated for the government of Mongolia to not only implement EITI, but to exceed its requirements by providing disaggregated, company-by-company reporting of resource revenue payments.

After the recent completion of the contract with Ivanhoe for the development of the giant Oyu Tolgoi mine, Mongolia is now urgently seeking to ensure that it captures and effectively utilizes the anticipated revenue streams from this and other projects.  Revenue Watch visited the country in early 2010 to discuss technical support for the design of a sound contract enforcement mechanism and a robust revenue management system.