Mining fuels Mongolia's 'wolf economy'

Mo2nd hand ball mills sangolia has always conjured a mix of exotic appeal and isolation. Sandwiched between Russia and China, the remote nation has for decades endured severe economic stagnation and political repression. That seems to be changing. Some 20 years after dismantling the country's Stalinist system and bringing about greater political freedom, Mongolia is now "the wolf on the move," as they say in the capital city of Ulan Bator.

Like the much-vaunted Asian Tigers of the 1980s -- Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea -- the Republic of Mongolia is now branding itself as the "wolf economy." Its strategy: leverage Mongolia's vast natural resources to boost socioeconomic growth. With only 2.5 million people, Mongolia sits in an area three times the size of France. Its sprawling, mostly desolate territory boasts of massive deposits of copper, coal, iron, gold, uranium, zinc and other natural resources. Experts say it probably has oil and rare earth elements, too. "Under any scenario, even if and when commodity prices fall substantially from their current levels, Mongolia's per capita GDP is heading for advance economy levels in the coming 20 years," says a Western economist who has lived and worked in Mongolia for two decades...