Back on land, mining-company engineers say new techniques, such as dissolving minerals and sucking them up through a pipe or extracting ore with high-powered water jets, could increase recoverable reserves.
From 1985 to 1996, China provided Iran with civil nuclear technology and machinery, assistance in uranium exploration and mining, training for nuclear engineers, and instruction on the use of lasers for uranium enrichment.
To start the process of developing Mongolian managers, he hired Mongolian engineers to come work in Wyoming and sent promising students to study mining and engineering at the University of Arizona.
It also helps that high-paying mining and energy firms have begun to recruit managers straight from their MBA programmes, rather than rely on promoting engineers from within.