Press release: Installed bird diverters in power transmission lines

– Day and night, birds can find their way with the help of the diverters –

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – Oyu Tolgoi is committed to ensuring that the habitats of local wildlife are not disturbed by mining activities. As part of this environmental protection work, bird diverters have been installed in overhead power lines that run from the Oyu Tolgoi mine site to the Gashuun Sukhait border point, to the Gunii Hooloi water boreholes and to the Khanbogd soum centres.

Oyu Tolgoi LLC Biodiversity Research Supervisor, S.Dorjderem said, “Rio Tinto use this type of standard bird diverter in many of the countries it has operations. We have installed bird diverters every five metres along a total of 300 kilometres of power lines. This is the first work of this kind done in Mongolia”.

The bird diverters are discs that rotate freely on the power lines. In the daytime they are very bright and at night time they shine. They deter the birds from hitting the power lines and help them change their flight direction.

Oyu Tolgoi works hard to avoid any potential negative impacts caused by its mining activities. The mine is working to protect and improve the biological condition of the region and preserve the natural flora and fauna through this type of comprehensive activity and management.

About Oyu Tolgoi LLC (http://en.ot.mn/)

Oyu Tolgoi LLC is Mongolia's largest copper and gold mining company and is a strategic partnership between the Government of Mongolia (34 per cent stake), Turquoise Hill Resources (66 per cent) and Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto is the major shareholder in Turquoise Hill Resources and the manager of the Oyu Tolgoi project. In addition to dividends from its 34 per cent stake in Oyu Tolgoi, the Government of Mongolia will receive taxes and royalties.

Oyu Tolgoi, located in the Gobi desert in southern Mongolia, will be one of the largest and highest-grade copper and gold mines in the world. It is the largest project ever developed in Mongolia, requiring a capital investment for phase 1 of more than US$6 billion.

Oyu Tolgoi is committed to contributing to a sustainable future for Mongolia. At least 9 out of 10 employees will be Mongolian once the mine is in production and Oyu Tolgoi is investing US$58 million dollars (78 billion MNT) in training and education and an additional US$27 million dollars (36 billion MNT) in the Workforce Employment Project designed to help address the general skills shortage in Mongolia

Oyu Tolgoi's key priorities are the health and safety of employees, best-practice environmental management, contributing to sustainable communities and always doing business with integrity, for the benefit of all the project's shareholders and the people of Mongolia.

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