Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi JSC planned to start distributing dividends to shareholders on May 1 but even five days after the scheduled date, no one has received their dividends.

The company explained on Monday that it temporarily postponed the payout as only one-fifth of all shareholders have connected their securities account to a bank account.

“Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi has completed all preparations for distributing dividends but there are many things to be monitored and organized, starting from teaching the 2.51 million shareholders how to open a securities account and link it to a bank account, checking if their bank accounts are active, deciding the way children’s dividends will be paid out, to figuring out how to distribute dividends to shareholders who haven’t connected their securities and banks accounts,” said Head of Communications and Public Relations M.Amarbayar.

“These works are almost finished. The General Authority for State Registration, Mongolian Central Securities Depository, and Customs, Tax and Financial Information Technology Center are checking the information to avoid duplicates and missing entries.”

As of May 4, out of 2.51 million shareholders, 1.72 million have opened a securities account and 425,000 have verified their bank accounts. The company also created the opportunity for people to receive their dividend through their ebarimt account, through which they receive their VAT refund. As for children, their dividends will be transferred to the bank account they get their monthly allowance, commonly known as Children’s Money.

Brokers and securities companies are charging at least 5,000 MNT to open a securities account. M.Amarbayar underlined that Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi doesn’t earn a cent from this fee and it goes to the broker and the Mongolian Central Securities Depository. The company advised brokers and securities companies against charging excessively high fees for online registration. Apparently, some companies charged 20,000 MNT for online services but there are 22 companies that signed agreements with the mining company to provide the same services for no more than 5,000 MNT.

As for mining operations, Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi updated that it produced 22,000 tons of coal and exported 48,600 tons last week. In the first four months, the mining company produced 2.56 million tons and exported 962,400 tons of coal to China.