In collaboration with Mongolia’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MECC) and the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), the IGF delivered a series of training workshops and field visits on abandoned mine risk assessment and prioritization in Mongolia between August and September 2026. The activities were conducted under the Environmentally Responsible Mining (ERM) Project and aimed to strengthen Mongolia’s capacity to identify, assess, and prioritize risks associated with abandoned mine sites.
The initiative brought together government officials, local authorities, technical specialists, and representatives from the mining sector to pilot the IGF Abandoned Mine Inventory and Risk Assessment Tool and explore its application in Mongolia’s context. Field assessments were conducted in Nalaikh and Zaamar, while training workshops were held in Ulaanbaatar and Zaamar, engaging a total of 35 participants from national and local institutions and mining companies.
During the workshops and field activities, participants discussed:
- the environmental and physical safety and socio-economic risks associated with abandoned mine sites;
- hazard identification and the evaluation of potential receptors, including people, wildlife, infrastructure, and the environment;
- methods for assessing the likelihood and consequences of hazardous events and determining overall risk levels;
- approaches for managing large and complex abandoned mine areas through zoning and prioritization methods;
- the role of inventories and risk assessments in supporting remediation planning and risk-based decision making;
- opportunities to adapt the IGF Abandoned Mine Inventory and Risk Assessment Tool to Mongolia’s specific mining context.
The workshops highlighted the value of a collaborative and multidisciplinary approach to abandoned mine risk assessment, bringing together technical expertise, local knowledge, and institutional perspectives. Participants emphasized the importance of systematic and standardized methodologies to support the prioritization of sites for further investigation and rehabilitation.
Building on the lessons learned from the pilot applications, MECC, BGR, and the IGF will continue working together to refine the specific application of the methodology and support its broader implementation in Mongolia. The initiative represents an important step toward establishing a risk-based approach to abandoned mine management in Mongolia and strengthening the country’s capacity to address the long-term environmental and safety challenges associated with historic mining activities.