This study was commissioned by the Sustainable Artisanal Mining (SAM) Project; implemented by the Swiss Development Cooperation in 2016. The goal of this study was to evaluate the economic contribution made by artisanal miners in five soums of two aimags such as Khovd, Uvs; and in the 12 soums that were covered in the baseline study of 2015. 

The economic impacts of the artisanal miners were classified as direct, indirect and induced. The direct effects cover expenditures of money and capital in relation to the extraction and sales of minerals; as well as taxes, material supplies and capital investment. The indirect effects include expenditures by businesses and herders supplying goods and services to artisanal miners and minerals traders. The induced effects refer mainly to the procurement by artisanal miners and minerals traders of goods and services for their household consumption, and local governments’ interventions addressing miners and traders.  

Semi-structured interviews were used during data collection; and conducted with representatives of the various stakeholders, including artisanal miners (147), herders (50), SME operators (33), minerals traders (28), artisanal mining NGOs (16) and administrative staff (of 17 soums). 

The results of the 2015 baseline study showed a contribution of  MNT 10.4 billion from ASMs and mineral traders in the target soums. This number increased to 18.3 MNT billion in 2016 follow-up study; an increase of 7.9 billion MNT. Moreover, the economic multiplier in the target soums had increased by 1.68.