• How Hwee Young / EPA

    From construction worker to shamanic healer

    Batgerel Batmunkh, a shaman, kisses his niece Munkhsoyol while 'possessed by the white spirit' during a shamanic healing ritual in their ger on the outskirts of Ulan Bator, Mongolia, in a photo taken on July 4, 2012 and made available to NBC News today.

    This ancient faith dominated the land during the time of Genghis Khan but was brutally suppressed under decades of communist rule, the European Pressphoto Agency reports. In recent years ancestor worship has seen a resurgence, as many have sought to fill a spiritual void in a bewildering urban landscape dominated by the burgeoning mining industry, where the traditional nomadic lifestyle is becoming a thing of the past.

    Batgerel and his brother Gankhuyag became shamans only two years ago, having previously worked in construction. Illness and misfortune plagued their family, they say, causing them to seek the advice of a shaman. It was revealed to them then that they had been chosen by spirits to serve as shamans. Only by doing so would their lives improve and would they be able to avoid further miseries, they were told.

    "When I first heard that I had been chosen to receive the spirits, I did not believe it and was angry and ignored the calling," Batgerel said. "But my life became worse and worse and I began to believe. After receiving the spirits, my life and health became better and now I live in happiness. I am very thankful to the spirits and this way of life."

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  • 'Manly' competition at Mongolia's Naadam Festival

    B.Rentsendorj / Reuters

    Mongolian wrestlers compete during wrestling competition at the annual Naadam Festival in Ulan Bator, on July 11.

    Andy Wong / AP

    A Mongolian vendor displays figure horses for sale during the Naadam Festival in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, Wednesday, on July 11. Mongolians celebrate the anniversary of Genghis Khan's march to world conquest on July 11 with the annual sports festival featuring traditional Mongolian events including wrestling, archery, and horse racing.

    Andy Wong / AP

    A Mongolian wrestler overturns his competitor during the Naadam Festival in Ulan Bator, Mongolia Wednesday, July 11.

    Reuters reports -- The Naadam Festival in Ulan Bator is the biggest event in the Mongolian calendar held from July 11 to 13, on the anniversary of the Mongolian revolution of 1921. Concerts, fairs and traditional sports like wrestling, archery and horse racing are held during the celebration.

    For more information about Naadam:

     

    Andy Wong / AP

    Mongolians in traditional costume perform during the Naadam Festival opening ceremony in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, Wednesday, on July 11.

    Andy Wong / AP

    A Mongolian boy in costume runs past a member of guard of honor during the Naadam Festival in Ulan Bator, Mongolia Wednesday, on July 11.

    Andy Wong / AP

    Mongolian women take part in an archery competition during the Naadam Festival in Ulan Bator, Mongolia Wednesday, on July 11.

    Andy Wong / AP

    Mongolian honor guards on horseback perform during the Naadam Festival opening ceremony in Ulan Bator, Mongolia Wednesday, on July 11.

     

  • Mongolian election highlights those left behind by mining boom

    Kyodo News via AP

    A nomad voter arrives at a yurt temporarily serving as a polling station in Hovt, western Mongolia, on June 28, 2012.

    Mark Ralston / AFP - Getty Images

    A man walks past graffiti proclaiming freedom of speech on the eve of parlimentary elections in Ulan Bator on June 27, 2012.

    The Associated Press reports from ULAN BATOR, Mongolia — Mongolians traveled by foot, car and horse to vote for a new legislature Thursday in an election that centered on better spreading the benefits of Mongolia's mining boom across the vast and still largely poor country. 

    A poll this month showed the opposition Democratic Party with a slight edge over the ruling Mongolian People's Party, though neither had the support to win an outright majority in the 76-seat parliament.

    The Democratic Party has cast itself as better placed to help the poor and unemployed and portrayed the ruling MPP as beholden to the rich. Read the full story.

    The Guardian: Mongolia's new wealth and rising corruption is tearing the nation apart

    PhotoBlog: Nuggets of gold on a journey across the Mongolian steppe

    Mark Ralston / AFP - Getty Images

    Herdsmen vote at a polling station during the Mongolian parliamentary elections in the village of Zurlug on June 28, 2012.

    How Hwee Young / EPA

    People outside a luxury store in Ulan Bator on June 27, 2012 on the eve of the parliamentary elections. Mongolian has some of the world's largest reserves of gold, iron ore, copper and coal, while one-third of the population lives under the official poverty line.

     

  • Mongolia's 'ninja' miners help sate China's lust for gold

    David Gray / Reuters

    A small-scale miner digs a hole searching for gold on a small hill overlooking grasslands in rural Mongolia on April 4, 2012. Pictures made available on April 19.

    David Gray / Reuters

    Reuters reports — In a hot, concrete hut filled with acetylene fumes, an elderly Mongolian miner struggles to contain her excitement as she plucks a sizzling inch-long nugget of gold from a grubby cooling pot and raises it to the light.

    65-year-old Khorloo is a member of a new Mongol horde of at least 60,000 herders, farmers and urban unemployed trying to extract the riches buried in the vast steppe with metal detectors, shovels and home-made smelters.

    See more of photographer David Gray's work from Mongolia on PhotoBlog

    In the last five years, dwindling legal gold supplies and a spike in black market demand from China have made work much more lucrative for Mongolia's "ninja miners" - so named because of the large green pans carried on their backs that look like turtle shells. For thousands of dirt-poor herders, the soaring prices alone are enough to justify years of harassment, abuse and hard labor. Read the full story.

    David Gray / Reuters

    A miner pours water into a crushing machine in an attempt to siphon gold at a processing plant around 100 km (62 miles) north of Ulan Bator.

    David Gray / Reuters

    A miner holds gold that was melted together at a processing plant.

    David Gray / Reuters

    A miner removes rocks from a hole he dug to search for gold.

    Sukhbaataryn Batbold, Mongolia's Prime Minister, talks about the country's mineral riches in a 2010 interview.

     

  • Nuggets of gold on a journey across the Mongolian steppe

    Photographer David Gray has been traveling across a small part of Mongolia, which is the least densely populated country on the planet according to figures cited by Reuters. The population of just 2.7 million is spread across an area three times the size of France, with two-fifths of Mongolians living in rural areas. 

    David Gray / Reuters

    Horses graze on grasslands south-west of the Mongolian capital city Ulan Bator on April 4, 2012.

    David Gray / Reuters

    A painting of the former Mongolian Emperor Genghis Khan hangs from the wall of a mining hut located around 62 miles north of Ulan Bator on April 5, 2012.

    David Gray / Reuters

    A frozen river is seen next to a group of houses located on the outskirts of the Mongolian capital city of Ulan Bator on April 3, 2012.

    Reuters examines the political situation in Mongolia ahead of parliamentary elections in June: 

    Mongolia sits on vast quantities of untapped mineral wealth, the exploitation of which is likely to turn it into one of the world's fastest growing economies over the next decade. 

    But political uncertainty worries investors. One of the parties in Mongolia's shaky coalition government said it would pull out before the vote, and politicians are under constant pressure to be seen to getting a good deal for the country from resources investors.

    The priority for Mongolia is the development of its tiny economy, and foreign investors want to know if the government can create a stable legal environment while handling the pressures exerted by impatient citizens as well as its two giant neighbours, Russia and China. Read more.

    David Gray / Reuters

    A herder stands on a hill overlooking grasslands south-west of Ulan Bator on April 4, 2012.

    David Gray / Reuters

    A dog sits at the door to a house in a small township located on grasslands south-west of Ulan Bator on April 4, 2012.

    David Gray / Reuters

    A woman performs a water displacement test to determine the purity of some gold that was brought in by small-scale miners at a processing plant north of Ulan Bator on April 5, 2012. The International Monetary Fund estimates Mongolia's GDP could grow as much as 10 percent this year, helped by rising gold prices but there is concern over environmental standards in the mining industry.

  • Olympic dreams, humble beginnings

    Kieran Doherty / Reuters

    Mongolia's Olympic freestyle 60kg wrestler Mandakhnaran Ganzorig limbers up at a wrestling gym in Ulan Bator, last October.

    By Jon Sweeney, NBC News

    While the elite of the sporting world tune up for the London Olympics in world class facilities, other gold medal hopefuls are forced to make do with less sophisticated surroundings.

    In Mongolia, Olympic freestyle 60 kg wrestler and Asian champion Mandakhnaran Ganzorig  trains alongside children playing basketball in an old, tired gym with paint peeling from the walls.

    These images were shot on October 27, 2011 by Reuters photographer Kieran Doherty, and were made available to msnbc.com today.

    -- Reuters contributed to this post

    Related links:

    Kieran Doherty / Reuters

    Children watch Mongolia's Olympic freestyle 60 kg wrestler Mandakhnaran Ganzorig limber up at a wrestling gymnasium in Ulan Batur.

    Kieran Doherty / Reuters

    Mongolian Olympic boxer Tugstsogt Nyambayar prepares to train in a gym in Ulan Batur.

    Kieran Doherty / Reuters

    A girl boxes in a gym which is shared with Mongolia's Olympic freestyle 60kg wrestler Mandakhnaran Ganzorig in Ulan Batur.

    Kieran Doherty / Reuters

    Children play basketball at a gym which they share with Mongolia's Olympic freestyle 60kg wrestler Mandakhnaran Ganzorig in Ulan Batur.

    Kieran Doherty / Reuters

    Mongolia's Olympic freestyle 60 kg wrestler Mandakhnaran Ganzorig limbers up at a wrestling gym in Ulan Bator.

     

  • Biden 'takes on' wrestler, practices archery in Mongolia

    Andy Wong / AP

    Vice President Joe Biden meets a Mongolian wrestler during Mini-Naadam, or Mongolian wrestling performance, in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, Monday, Aug. 22.

    Goh Chai Hin / AFP - Getty Images

    Vice President Joe Biden tries his hand at archery as Mongolian Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold, second from right, laughs during Mini-Naadam staged in Biden's honor in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, on Monday, Aug. 22. Biden hailed the United States' growing ties with Mongolia on a rare visit to the Asian nation, which is opening up its vast coal reserves to foreign investors.

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    Oh, Vice President Biden. How you continue to provide endless amusement.

    It could quite possibly be described as an imitation of the prowess and machismo exercised by Russian PM Vladimir Putin.

    Biden could stand to shore up his stance a bit, when he's not busy catching up on sleep during Obama's deficit speech or smarting off at a Wisconsin custard shop.

    Biden left last Tuesday for a tour taking him to China, Mongolia and Japan. The multifaceted trip has so far seen stops in Beijing and Mongolia with upcoming stops in Tokyo, as the country recovers from the earthquake and tsunami.

  • Ana Brigida

    Ana Brigida

    With few economic options, Mongolians turn to gold mining

    In Mongolia, herders are losing their animals in a series of summer droughts and increasingly harsh winters. Combined with the global recession and the end of Soviet subsidies, the country is facing an unemployment crisis, with herders turning to artisanal gold mining to make ends meet. Multimedia journalist Ana Brigida documented their lives and work last fall.

    Nearly 100,000 Mongolians are trying their luck digging in rural areas and around formal mining companies. Their holes and tunnels, often dug by hand with few safety precautions, can lead to collapses with deadly consequences.

    Artisanal mining is not legally recognized or organized by the government and as a result, miners lack social services or safety regulations. The government also criticizes these miners for using mercury, causing environment damage and the pollution of rivers.

    Watch this video by Ana Brigida to learn more about the miners daily lives and concerns.