The mining industry in the cross-borders regions of Russia and Mongolia: social and environmental aspects

The Republic of Buryatia (RB) is a unique subject of the Russian Federation both in terms of its natural-climatic and geographical conditions, and in terms of its distinctive socio-cultural environment. The most recognizable natural object not only in Russia, but all around the world, is rightfully considered Lake Baikal, its flora and fauna. The socio-cultural peculiarities of this republic are reflected in the traditionally friendly relations between various ethnic groups. The ethnic composition of the RB population consists of various ethnic groups – Buryats, Russians, Tatars, Evenks, Ukrainians, Armenians, Azerbaijani, Koreans, Chinese and others. Recent years have shown an increasing interest towards bilateral cooperation between Russia and the PRC when it comes to politics, economy, security, cultural aspects and education. Mongolia plays a significant part in this cooperation: it has been developing its foreign policy with its two neighbors based on the geopolitical and geo-economic situation. Since Soviet times the Republic of Buryatia has been developing its industries with the main focus being the mining of minerals – coal, copper, tungsten. During the modern stage of development many industrial enterprises which used to extract and process raw material were shut down. A fundamentally new stage for the ore-mining industry came with the start of exporting greenstone to China. In this case the government was not exactly ready to become the main player in this industry. This lead to the development of semi-legal and illegal economic activities in this particular sphere, and this affected the social sector in areas where greenstone was extracted. Pretty much the same situation can be observed in Mongolia when it comes to the process of extracting and selling placer gold. The South Gobi province of Mongolia is famous for its rich deposits of coal, gold and copper. The key role in selling raw material has been assigned to Mongolia’s southern neighbor – China. Virtually all the coal which is extracted in the South Gobi province is then exported to the PRC. This brings a certain imbalance when it comes to economic partners abiding to market relations. In this article we made an attempt to analyze the peculiarities of those social effects attributed to the development of the trans-border regions of Russia and Mongolia, as well as the state’s role in developing this economic sector, trans-border cooperation, and non-formal practices among social groups and their role in forming individual life strategies.

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mining industry, trans-border regions, social effects, Russia, Mongolia.

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