Using the Case of Resource Extraction in Mongolia to Interpret the Bakken

Formation of North America

Erdenet Copper Mine, Mongolia Oil Wells in North Dakota

What are your images of East Asia?

Historical?

Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul, South Korea

Urban, High-Tech and Crowded?

Busan, South Korea

Tokyo, Japan

Politically Charged?

The DMZ from the South Korean Side

Pop Culture?

Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan

Japanese manga goods

China

Beijing Olympics

Shanghai, China

Mongolia!…Mongolia?

Outline

• Background to Mongolia• The physical environment• Brief overview of the history and culture:

A sense of place• The case of mining • Group exercises Being resource rich: A blessing or curse?• Oil in North America

Mongolia• 2.8 million people • 1/3 live in Ulaanbaatar • 95% Mongol (Kazakh and Tuvan minorities)• Language is Mongolian• Buddhist 45%, non-religious 45%• 45% in herding, 35 million livestock

Basketball in UB

Cashmere goats and factory near Ulaanbaatar

The Physical Environment

The Steppes

Milking a horse

A diet high in meat, even in the cities

Traditional dairy products

Modern ger

Wrestling

Solar panel

Nomadic Life on the Steppes

• Could you hack it? Why? Why not?

• Possible positives and negatives?

A Quick Cultural History of Mongolia

• Chinggis (Genghis) Khan≈12th Century

The Great Wall of ChinaC. Khan memorial near UB

Mongolia in the Cold War

• 1924-1992: Mongolian People’s Republic

• Soviet influence more than Chinese on economics, education and infrastructure

• Cyrillic

• Vodka very popular

Chinggis Khan brand vodka

Post-Cold War• 1990-2000 Soviet support ends• Severe economic hardship• Plus many droughts and hard freezes in

the 2000s• Whole herds starve, livelihoods gone• Rapid urban migration• January (3˚F max to -17˚ min)• Strain on air quality

Strain on municipal services Ger among apartments

Ger camps on the edge of Ulaanbaatar

Problems, problems...But!

“Mine-golia” The Great Hope?

• Estimated $1.3 trillion in untapped mineral assets!

• Copper, coal, gold, tungsten• Mining exports: $1.3 billion (2007) to 2.3 billion (2010)• Minerals now over 80% of all exports • This is predicted to rise to near 100%!• Many of these resources destined for China• A blessing, right?

Resource Curse?

• What is it?

Positives and Negatives for Mongolia

• Group work

Oyu Tolgoi, Mongolia

Thinking about North America

• The Bakken formation• Where is it? What is happening there?• Find and read at least 3 newspaper articles

on positive and/or negative changes to the people and places of the Bakken

• Relate those changes to/challenge the ideas presented in readings on the resource curse

Continued on next slide

Thinking about North America• A blessing, a curse, or both?• 1-2 page reflective journal entry

Oil wells in North Dakota at the heart of the Bakken formation

Thanks

Cultural Diffusion: Kimchi

• Korean national dish

Kimchi in an Ulaanbaatar supermarket