Twelve-hundred national and foreign companies are suppliers to Oyu Tolgoi, a major project in Mongolia in the 21st century. These companies supply tea, coffee, paper tissues, and also the giant Komatsu 930E haul trucks and Bycarus excavators. One such supplier company is Ugomur Gaviluud. Gaviluud is the name of a small administrative unit in Khanbogd soum in South Gobi which neighbors with Oyu Tolgoi mine.
The CEO of Ugomur Gaviluud M.Khashbaatar hails from Khanbogd soum and founded the company in 2010. His company handled the transportation of workers when the Oyu Tolgoi concentrator plant was under construction. His company, besides handling the logistics, in 2012 was awarded a three-year contract, through competitive bidding, to oversee the cleaning of the concentrator plant and its surroundings, which is not an easy task. For instance, if the ore pipe leaks, clay piles up two meters high and cannot be cleaned by merely using hand-held shovels. Instead high pressure water has to be used. The company is also responsible for properly disposing of by-products created from the primary ore crusher, the concentrator plant, and the geological laboratory where ore specimens are lab tested in a special-purpose furnace.
The Ugomur Gaviluud company employs more than 40 workers of whom half are responsible for keeping the concentrator plant clean and tidy. Most of the workers of the company are locals from Khanbogd and they work in three shifts. The company has not only created many jobs locally but also runs a service center in the soum which boasts a karaoke bar, a hotel, a supermarket, and a restaurant.
The inhabitants of Khanbogd know Hashbaatar well and respect him. After finishing high school, he helped out his parents tending animals. Then he worked as a merchant buying and selling animal hides from the local herders at a good market price. He even worked at Wager Asia, and while working he joined the Military college to major as an accountant. Hashbaatar is also socially active. He is the presidium member of the local assembly of Khanbogd soum, and he also spent a couple of years working in South Korea as a laborer. After all this, one fine day he decided to go into private business, and according to him his stint as a laborer in South Korea gave him lots of fresh business ideas. Soon after setting up his own company, Khashbaatar imported a couple of Hyundai buses. He said, “Oyu Tolgoi and CIS company both helped my company stand firmly on its feet.”
Hashbaatar continued, “Oyu Tolgoi has high demands, and if those strict requirements are met, then one can hope to become its supplier. I plan to increase the number of my workers, and we’d like to work more closely with Oyu Tolgoi. We feel proud and happy working with this company which has been instrumental in creating new jobs in this remote district.”.
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