Following angry street protests in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian government has agreed to open an investigation into the so-called "coal mafia," a group of state officials and executives accused pilfering the country's subsurface wealth for personal profit to the tune of some $12 billion. Demonstrators attempted to storm the Government Palace on Dec. 4, and blocked the capital's main boulevard, Peace Avenue. At issue are the vast Tavan Tolgoi [7] coalfields in the Gobi Desert, under exploitation by the Mongolian Mining Corporation [8], a pillar of the national economy. (BNE Intellinews [11], BNE Intellinews [12], EuroWeekly News [9])
