Oyu-Tolgoi mine in Mongolia

Mongolia has been described as the Saudi Arabia of minerals. Its mining industry is just taking off and could, one day, transform the entire economy. So there are high hopes on Mongolia's stock exchange that a boom might be on the way. BBC's Justin Rowlatt reports.
Mongolia has for centuries been characterised as a nation of nomads and cattle herders, but this is all changing thanks to a huge new copper and gold mine.
The mine is Oyu Tolgoi, which is Mongolian for Turquoise Hill, and it is already beginning to transform the economy of this sparsely-populated central Asian nation, sending it towards the top of international growth tables.
But this year, there has been disagreement over the details of the contract between Rio Tinto and the Mongolian government. Ulaan Baatar wants Rio Tinto to explain why it has over-spent on the project by more than $2bn (£1.3bn).
The size of the ore deposit is staggering - running for some 20 miles beneath the Gobi Desert. When this mine is fully operational, in 2020, it will produce 450,000 tonnes of copper ore and 330,000 ounces of gold a year.
One of those who has been involved with the mine since the very beginning is geologist Samand Sanjdorj, vice president of Oyu Tolgoi operations, who first came to the site 16 years ago.
"When we first came in 1997 it was just open steppe. We had only 11 of us, two ration jeeps and one truck - that's it."
When the survey team realised the size of the deposit below their feet, he says "it was exciting, very exciting".
"This ore body is something like Manhattan Island, this deposit is among the top three in the entire world."
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