“In terms of the basic infrastructure, there were no decent roads, no electricity, no water, no air transport coming in, and the work force we needed was nowhere near the mine,” said Cameron McRae, chief executive of Oyu Tolgoi, at his office in the capital, Ulan Bator, which is about 375 miles from the mine. “Basically we have had to provide everything from scratch.”

The economic impact of Oyu Tolgoi is visible on the streets of Khanbogd, the town nearest to the site. The population of Khanbogd, a frontierlike outpost where most residents still live in traditional nomadic tents, has grown from just 2,000 a decade ago to over 7,000 today, not including the 10,000 workers housed at the mine itself.

The dusty roads are now crisscrossed with cars and vans, as well as the shuttle buses filled with workers traveling from their nearby camp to the mine and back.

Electricity is now available to households for set periods throughout the day, and the mine has promised residents 24-hour electricity soon. Still, life is harsh for many here, with no running water and only five doctors working at the town’s small, one-story hospital, the same number as before the influx of people.

Image Credit... The New York Times

“We are looking at the moment at how we can help develop Khanbogd town so it is something better than it currently is, and somewhere where it is attractive for our employees to live,” Mr. McRae said.

The development is inexorably altering the area, for good and ill.

“The high level of respiratory illness in the southern Gobi is due to the influence of the mining companies, as well as to the influx of people into the region and the subsequent increase in building projects,” said Narantsetseg Logii, a doctor at the Health Sciences University of Mongolia.