On May 24, 2017, the Government of Mongolia passed the resolution No.151 to approve revised regulations on Mineral extraction of artisanal and small-scale mining. This is a result of the partnership between the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry (MMHI) and the Sustainable Artisanal Mining (SAM) project of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and other stakeholders in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector.

The previous regulation, approved in 2010, addressed legal and practical issues in the artisanal and small-scale sector in Mongolia, but during its implementation it became clear that there were still some gaps in technical aspects, in the enforcement processes and in the alignment with legal and human rights frameworks.

The newly approved regulation was developed based on extensive consultations with all stakeholders, and incorporated recommendations, lesson learnt, practice and experiences from all players. It seeks to improve the coordination of ASM interventions by establishing an inter-governmental ASM council and strengthening the roles and responsibilities of aimag governments; it creates an enabling environment for small-scale miners through allowing them to operate within their local aimags, increasing the equipment capacity limitation seven-fold and extending the term of the ASM agreements until the resources in a given site are totally exhausted.

The regulation further formalizes the Frugal Rehabilitation Methodology that was developed with SDC support. The miners are required to use this methodology for the environmental rehabilitation, thus increasing their responsibility

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Sustainable Artisanal Mining Project commend the Government of Mongolia and the MMHI for their leadership in making the legal environment for Mongolian artisanal and small-scale mining sector more conducive and are confident that the revised regulation will bring a significant contribution to poverty alleviation in Mongolia.