With both the challenge and vast opportunity, Steppe Gold is back on track to become the leading investment vehicle for Mongolia’s untapped mining industry. They aim to become the best precious metal producers by building and delivering real value to all stakeholders.
Sprawling plains, rugged mountain ranges, abundant wildlife, and fascinating culture – this garden of Eden is an untapped slice of paradise. Sandwiched between the world’s biggest consumers of commodities, China and Russia, Mongolia is one of the least densely populated countries in the world. It obtains lands that have not been a place known for its cities or even towns but nomads farming and grazing for a living for nearly all of its history.
Just about every inch of this landlocked nation is remote, with Mongolia a new democracy of only 32-years. The population is also very young – so young that 60 percent of the people are under 35-years-old.
Mongolia’s vast open vistas have been described as having earth’s last true wilderness. With a surface area of 1.5 million square kilometres, it’s easy to see why some civilians have never even reached vast pieces of it before. Even after 20 years of exploration, they still haven’t unlocked Mongolia’s most significant potential. However, nowadays, it’s not just grass and horses. Until about 15-years-ago Ulaanbaatar was a sleepy city, but now over 3.2 million people call Mongolia home.
Mongolia has the space and land to show for and the rich resources that lay within. Having abundant natural resources helped the country attract foreign investment into exploring until it eventually turned its energy into mining.
The mining industry plays a vital role in its providence. It makes up a quarter of Mongolia’s economy, over 70 percent of foreign direct investment, and 93 percent of total export. With power expertise from the miners and commodities such as copper, gold, coal and minerals – it truly is a mining economy.
Steppe Gold, a Mongolia-based company, is stepping up to the genuine gold plate, with their advantages being their access to exploration and mining development projects. “Mongolia has done geological surveys in only 30 percent of its territory, and mining licences issued to only 1 percent,” says Chief Executive Officer Bataa Tumur-Ochir. “There are more untapped resources with more promising opportunities here.”
The Company developed its 100 percent owned Altan Tsagaan Ovoo Gold Project (ATO), acquired from the Canadian company Centerra Gold in September 2016, with production beginning in March 2020. Steppe Gold’s portfolio also contains an 80 percent ownership in an exploration-stage mineral property called the Uudam Khundii (UK) with a 20 percent joint venture partner.
Steppe Gold became public as the only mainboard mining IPO in 2018, raising $25 million.
“25 percent of the company is owned by the management themselves; we invested into the company,” explains Tumur-Ochir. When it comes to the people backing this remarkable stand-out business, huge stakeholders and leading investors are already flocking into view. These include the famous Canadian mining investor Eric Sprott, an American investment firm Elliot Management, Fidelity, Triple Flag Mining Finance and European Family offices.
However, before the upward journey to success, there was one more thing that the team wanted to tackle – helping the young generations of Mongolia. “I went to the local communities, and one of the main financial hurts for the nomadic people living in the countryside is sending their kids to schools,” shares Tumur-Ochir. This sparked a side project whereby the company would give Mongolian students scholarships to study in Canada. “When we began this project, there were only 62 students, now there are 106 per year. We give them $380 per student. It covers a lot of the initial entry level costs,” he says.
From here, Steppe Gold plans to join up with its streaming partners to send students from Mongolia to international universities to study abroad. Here they can study short term, environment, recovery courses, and much more.
With Steppe Gold’s 4th anniversary of IPO approaching in May, its story speaks volumes for its age. “Since we established, the company did an IPO on the Toronto Stock Exchange in just 12 months, built its first mine project from ground zero, and commenced its construction of the mine, its plant and facilities in just under 14 months – all under budget,” says Tumur-Ochir.
However, even though they were one of very few companies on the TSX list running during the Covid pandemic, they still powered through. With the current Russian-Ukraine war placing another block in the road, the company is nevertheless excited to announce that they are slowly moving back into production.
The company is run by an experienced management team with over 60 percent of the workers being female, who are at the forefront of the operation.
Steppe Gold is currently expanding and building Phase 2 of the project and targeting to increase its annual production rate to over 100,000 ounces of gold equivalent by 2024. But first, they have to jump the hurdle of Phase 1– the production stage.
Steppe Gold was founded and managed by directors with a proven track record in Mongolia and internationally. “We are growing quite quickly,” says Tumur-Ochir. “When we did an IPO in 2018, it was only 20 people; now we have 350 people working on site.”
Steppe Gold is a new gold and silver producer on track to become the primary investment vehicle for the mining industry in Mongolia.
For more information, visit their website https://steppegold.com/.
