About Erdenet

Erdenet (Mongolian: Эрдэнэт / ᠡᠷᠳᠡᠨᠡᠲ, literally "with treasure") is the third-largest city in Mongolia and the capital of the aimag (province) of Orkhon.

Located in the northern part of the country, it lies in a valley between the Selenge and Orkhon rivers about 150 miles (240 km) (as the bird flies) northwest of Ulan Bator, the capital. The road length between Ulan Bator and Erdenet is about 230 miles (371 km).

History

Erdenet, one of the youngest settlements in Mongolia, was founded in 1974[7] in an area where large deposits of copper had been discovered in the 1950s. A single-track railway line with a length of 75 miles (120 km) linking Erdenet to the Transmongolian Railway was inaugurated in 1977[8]. In the middle of the 1980s, more than 50% of the inhabitants were Russians working as engineers or miners. After the fall of communism in 1990, however, most of them left Erdenet. Today about 10% are Russians.[9] .