Achit Ikht LLC, a cathode copper producer and a subsidiary of Steppe Copper LLC, has started offering its preferred shares to targeted beneficiaries – the employees of Achit Ikht LLC and Erdenet Mining Corporation, becoming the very first entity to do so in Mongolia.

On the one hand, this project will distribute the construction resources to the employees of Erdenet Mining Corporation, which has carried out large-scale mining development and creating prolific dump, and to the employees of Achit Ikht LLC, which is working on the off-balance dump using environmentally friendly and new technologies, to support household income, and on the other hand, to finance the projects related to the expansion and development of the Achit Ikht hydrometallurgical plant.

Employees of Achit Ikht LLC and Erdenet Mining Corporation could purchase the preferred shares for a period of 3 years, receive high quarterly returns, and can be resold at any time.

As the preferred shares are registered with the Mongolian Central Securities Depository, the interests of the investors are fully protected, and Achit Ikht LLC provides a 100 percent guarantee for the repayment of the preferred shares.

This effort also plays an important role in disseminating understanding and experience of the stock market to the people of the city of Erdenet and the Erdenet Mining Corporation. The practice of offering preferred shares is highly encouraged by the International Labour Organization, and an ILO study suggests that this form of company structure is both successful in business terms and more widely applicable. As Jürgen Schwettmann, head of the ILO’s Cooperative Branch said “… the survival rate of worker cooperatives and employee-owned firms in market economies appears to equal or surpass that of conventional firms, and that they also match or exceed the productivity of those conventional firms”.

Successful implementation of the copper cathode plant project replaced the former process which had negative impacts on the environment with a green plant with environmentally friendly technology. Achit Ikht became a wealth creator from waste and a national producer of export products, contributing greatly to the economy, the development process of the country, and the community. It produces Class A cathode copper of 99.999 purity, per the London Metal Exchange laboratory.

It is one of the TOP-100 companies recognized by the Government of Mongolia and the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry for its contribution to the country’s economy and society and is one of the top taxpayers which was ranked 43rd, 15th, and 16th, respectively in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Achit Ikht LLC has established its subsidiary company Achit Zes – a closed JSC, a special purpose financial institution, with 100% ownership and is implementing this activity jointly. BDSec JSC, which is working as an investment consultant for this project, is a leading company in the stock market with 26 years of continuous experience since the establishment of the stock market in 1991.

BDSec JSC is a Class 1 joint-stock company of the Mongolian Stock Exchange and provides comprehensive financing and investment advisory services to Mongolia’s leading enterprises and small and medium enterprises.