Page | 13Erdenet
Mongolia’s second-largest city began life in the
mid-1970s as a joint Soviet-Mongolian venture to
exploit the large nearby deposits of copper and
molybdenum ore. With virtually no infrastructure
in the area, all roads, rail connections, water
pipelines, electric lines, and housing had to be
built from scratch.55,^56 Besides its huge open-pit
mine and associated concentrating plant, Erdenet
also hosts Mongolia’s largest carpet
manufacturing plant, as well as food-processing
and timber-processing facilities.57,^58
Darhan
Darhan is also a recently developed industrial city, built within Mongolia’s most
important agricultural region.^59 It sprang to life in the late 1960s with the construction of
a large industrial complex built with extensive Soviet and eastern European assistance.
Construction materials (cement, bricks, steel), food processing, wool textiles, and
sheepskin processing are some of the industries that have taken root in Darhan. A local
coal-fired power plant provides electricity for these industries. Its power is also delivered
to Ulaanbaatar to the south and Suhbaatar to the north.60,^61 The nearby Sharyn Gol
coalfield provides the coal both for this plant and for another power plant in Erdenet.^62
Plans are also in the works for a Japanese-led consortium to build Mongolia’s first oil
refinery in Darhan, scheduled to open in 2014.^63
(^55) Roxane D. V. Sismanidis, “Chapter 3: The Economy: Industry: Mining,” in Mongolia: A Country Study,
2nd ed. (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1991), 141–142.
(^56) Encyclopædia Britannica Online, “Erdenet,” 2011, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/
191128/Erdenet
(^57) GMDU.net, “Erdenet Carpet,” n.d., http://www.gmdu.net/corp-304139.html
(^58) Encyclopædia Britannica Online, “Erdenet,” 2011, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/
191128/Erdenet
(^59) Michael Koln, “Northern Mongolia: Selenge,” in Mongolia, 5th ed. (Footscray, Victoria, Australia:
Lonely Planet Publications, 2008), 133.
(^60) Encyclopædia Britannica Online, “Darhan,” 2011, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/
151546/Darhan
(^61) LegendTour.com, “The Regions of Mongolia: Darkhan - Uul Aimag,” n.d.,
http://www.legendtour.ru/eng/mongolia/regions/darkhan-uul-aimag.shtml
(^62) Shargyn Gol JSC, “Annual Report of 2009,” 2010, 3,
http://sharyngol.com/_literature_68176/2009_Annual_Report
(^63) Business Council of Mongolia, “Marubeni to Help Build Oil Refinery in Darkhan, Mongolia’s First,”
Reuters/Monsame, 1 October 2010, http://www.bcmongolia.org/news/744-marubeni-to-help-build-oil-
refinery-in-darkhan-mongolias-first