This case examines the business decisions around managing the community impact of a mining development in the Gobi Desert region of Mongolia at Oyu Tolgoi—one of the larger copper and gold deposits in the world, and a flagship project of Rio Tinto. In 2009, a mining development agreement was reached with the Government of Mongolia on the national level, but negotiations were just ramping up at the local level. New legislation mandated the creation .....more

NFC was a state-owned company listed on the China stock exchange. It had operations in Zambia, Iran and Kazakhstan before entering into Mongolia. Most of the prior projects were turn-key operations. Mongolia was the first country in which it had an international joint venture (IJV). The joint venture (JV) agreement was signed in 1998. Due to many delays, it was not until 2005 that it finally started operating. In mid-2007, the Mongolian parliament .....more