Gold rush in Mongolia

Level 2 Intermediate

1 Warmer: Gold

How many products or uses of gold can you name in two minutes? Write your answers in the box below.

Gold

2 Key words

Complete the sentences using the following words from the text.

tolerate concession black market prospector legitimate

beat nugget gold rush imprison arrest

1. When you keep someone locked up, for example in a police cell, you ________________ them.

2. When you hit someone again and again, you ________________ them.

3. A lump of gold is called a ________________.

4. When the police ________________ someone, they take them to the police station because they believe he or
she has committed a crime.

5. If you sell something illegally and secretly, you sell it on the ________________.

6. A ________________ is the right given to someone to sell something or do a particular activity.

7. When you ________________ someone, you accept them even though you dont like or approve of them.

8. A ________________ is someone who searches an area of land or water for gold, oil, etc.

9. When something is ________________, it is legal.

10. A ________________ happens when lots of people move to a place (over a short period of time) in the hope
of becoming rich.
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NEWS LESSONS / Gold rush in Mongolia / Intermediate

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Gold rush in Mongolia
Level 2 Intermediate
Prospectors and ninja miners rush to
the easts El Dorado
Central Asias gold fever brings rapid economic
growth as well as pollution and violence
Jonathan Watts in Ogoomor
October 10, 2007
1 Carefully touching the bruises on her forehead,
Enkhmaa a middle-aged mother and illegal
gold miner explains why she is afraid to go out
on the street with a green plastic bowl. Three
days earlier, she says, the Mongolian police beat
and imprisoned her for wandering too close to a
foreign-owned mine. They chased after me in
a car. When they caught me, they dragged me
inside, they hit me on the face, pulled my hair
and beat my leg with a truncheon, she recalls.
2 Ogoomor, where Enkhmaa lives, is probably the
only town in the world where you can be arrested
and beaten by police for carrying a bowl. It is a
bizarre side effect of a Mongolian gold rush that
is causing problems between nomadic miners
and foreign companies, and raising serious
concerns about human rights.
3 Ogoomor is Mongolias Wild West, a dusty
town of miners and nomads, tents and wooden
shacks, karaoke discos, Internet cafes and
police cells. From Ulan Bator, it is a seven-hour
drive across vast plains inhabited only by a few
nomads and their herds of sheep and goats.
The town did not exist 20 years ago and it only
recently got a name. But reports of giant nuggets
in the nearby hills started a gold rush that
attracted several thousand prospectors legal
and illegal.
4 The area around Ogoomor has been called a
Mongolian El Dorado. The town is located in
the Zaamar valley where, geologists estimate,
there is at least 100 tonnes of gold. Russian and
localrmshaveboughtupconcessionstomine say they are pulled from their beds at night,
the land.
5 Until recently, thousands of Mongolians searched
illegally through the earth for small fragments
Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007
NEWS LESSONS / Gold rush in Mongolia / Intermediate
of gold missed by the mining companies
giant machines. To do this, they used green
plastic bowls, which they carry on their backs
like a shell. This appearance gives them their
nickname ninja after the Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles cartoon.
6 Many were former nomads, but as the gold rush
gathered pace, students, vets and taxi drivers
from Ulan Bator joined the ninjas, not just in
Ogoomor but in other gold towns across the
country. Today, estimates of their numbers range
from 30,000 to 100,000. This created a huge
black market for gold most of it thought to be
smuggled across Mongolias 3,000 mile border
with China.
7 For years, the ninjas were tolerated. With three-
quarters of the 2.9m population living on less
than $2 a day, searching for gold was a way to
ease poverty and unemployment.
8 But a Russian mining company asked for new
security measures last year after thousands
of ninjas invaded one of its mines, beat the
guards, destroyed equipment and stole gold.
Arrests are now common, local people say. We
live in constant fear of being taken away, says
Amarjargal. We cant even take a green bowl
onto the street, and if we have dirty clothes,
or muddy shoes, it is used as an excuse to
arrest us.
9 Itishardtondanyfamilythathasnthad
someone arrested, said an elderly woman called
Sunjee (most Mongolians only use one name).
The police have taken people younger than 16
and older than 60.
10 When the ninjas search for gold they are
trespassing or stealing. These areas are the
property of the Russian concession holders
so the arrests are legitimate. But the police
crackdown has become indiscriminate. Residents
chased as they walk down the street or arrested
at checkpoints without any real evidence
against them.
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Gold rush in Mongolia
Level 2 Intermediate
11 Visitors to Ogoomor have been shocked at the
changes in Mongolia which is known as Asias
most democratic nation. But this is no black-
and-white story of human rights abuses and
wealth inequality. Most ninjas make $10 to $20
dollars a day a higher income than policemen
or soldiers. Some strike it extremely rich. There
are many stories in the town of people who
found giant nuggets worth tens of thousands
of dollars.
12 The Russian mining company, Altan Dornod
Mongol, says the ninjas are organized and
controlled by criminal bosses. The ninjas are
a Mongolian social problem. There are whole
towns of them with bars and prostitutes. They
even use their children to get gold. Its awful,
said a spokeswoman. We dont want to abuse
human rights, but we must protect our mine and
our workers.
Guardian News & Media 2007
First published in The Guardian, 10/10/07

3 Comprehension check

According to the article, are these sentences True (T) or False (F)?

1. It is dangerous to walk around with a plastic bowl in Ogoomor.

2. Ogoomor is an ancient city in the west of Mongolia.
3. The gold rush in Ogoomor started 20 years ago.
4. Gold has been discovered in the plains near Ulan Bator.
5. Russian mining companies want to stop the ninjas searching for gold.
6. The number of people moving to Mongolias Wild West is growing rapidly.
7. There is a lot of poverty and unemployment in Mongolia.
8. Ninja is a Mongolian word for nomad.
9. Much of Mongolias gold is smuggled to the West.
10. Residents in Ogoomor are frightened of the police.
11. Some ninjas have found enough gold to make them very rich.
12. The mining companies are happy to share the gold with the ninjas.

4 Vocabulary:Lexicalelds
Howmanyjobsandprofessionscanyoundmentionedinthearticle?Writethemintothespidergram.Do
the same for legal terms and related words.

jobs and professions legal words and

terminology
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NEWS LESSONS / Gold rush in Mongolia / Intermediate

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Gold rush in Mongolia
Level 2 Intermediate

5 Discussion: Presenting a case

One half of the class are the ninjas, the other half are the mining companies. In your groups prepare to
present your case to the judges.

Can you reach an agreement to work together?

Appoint two or three neutral observers to be the judges.

Make notes under the following categories to help you prepare for the discussion.

Name of group:
____________________________________________________________
What we want:
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Why we think we should get what we want:
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
What we are willing to compromise on / agree to:
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
How we might be able to work together with the other group:
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

6 Webquest

What is the current price of gold? Is it rising or falling? Do you think gold is a good investment? Use the
following websites to help you answer the questions.

http://goldprice.org/
www.thebulliondesk.com
http://goldprices.com/
www.kitco.com
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NEWS LESSONS / Gold rush in Mongolia / Intermediate

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