Omnogovi
From least populated to mining heartland in two decades. Oyu Tolgoi (one of world's largest copper deposits), Tavan Tolgoi (6 billion tonnes coal). Billion gallons of water monthly in the Gobi desert.
Twenty years ago, Omnogovi was Mongolia's least populated province—a few thousand herders scattered across the southern Gobi, surviving on camels and goats in one of Earth's harshest deserts. Then geologists confirmed what prospectors had suspected: beneath the sand lay one of the world's largest copper-gold deposits, and nearby, one of the largest untapped coal reserves. The extraction economy arrived.
Oyu Tolgoi, 80 kilometers from the Chinese border, began construction in 2010 and shipped its first copper in 2013. The deposit holds an estimated 2.7 million tonnes of copper and 1.7 million ounces of gold. Rio Tinto operates it through a joint venture giving Mongolia's government 34% ownership. In March 2023, underground production commenced, making Oyu Tolgoi one of the world's most significant new copper sources—critical metal for the electric vehicle transition.
Tavan Tolgoi sits 150 kilometers away, holding over 6 billion tonnes of coal: 1.5 billion tonnes of coking coal for steelmaking, 4.5 billion tonnes of thermal coal. This deposit alone could supply China's steel industry for decades. Together, these two sites transformed Omnogovi from empty desert to Mongolia's mining heartland.
The transformation has costs. Oyu Tolgoi consumes over a billion gallons of water monthly in an arid ecosystem already stressed by climate change. Herders report springs drying up. The population that once sustained itself on pastoral traditions now debates the tradeoffs of extraction wealth. By 2026, Omnogovi's tension—mineral riches versus desert ecology, industrial employment versus herding life—will intensify as both mines scale toward full production.