– Petitioners allegations do not reflect reality of Investment Agreement –
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – Oyu Tolgoi, the copper and gold mine in the Umnugobi, today corrects the record on statements made by signatories of a petition to the Prime Minister questioning the integrity of the Oyu Tolgoi investment agreement.
An Oyu Tolgoi spokesperson said: “A lot of what is being alleged is inaccurate. We invite everyone to visit our website and read the Investment Agreement. It would quickly become clear that this is the the most progressive agreement structure in place anywhere in the world. The Mongolian people get up to $71 from every $100”.
During the course of the announcement of the petition, it was reportedly alleged that Mongolia won’t get even 1 MNT of income from Oyu Tolgoi. Actually, Mongolia will have received 900 billion MNT by the time the mine is operational and will always get more from the mine than foreign investors. Mongolia will have made 10 trillion MNT before investors make any money at all.
Another reported allegation claimed that the Government cannot get any of our financial statements because there are no financial reports released by Oyu Tolgoi. In fact, Oyu Tolgoi reports on a quarterly basis, not just to the government but also to the Board of Oyu Tolgoi and the owners (Turquoise Hill Resources, Rio Tinto and Erdenes MGL – which represents the government). The government has stamped the accounts and accepted them as true and correct.
Furthermore, we understand it has been said that investors can change the agreement at will, while the government can only suggest changes. This shows that not everyone understands that the Investment Agreement is a legal contract. It can only be changed with the agreement of both sides.
It was also reportedly said that Oyu Tolgoi uses water free of charge. The fact is Oyu Tolgoi pays for water just like anyone else, at comparative rates. This is all clearly spelled out in the Investment Agreement.
It is unfortunate that these and other comments do not reflect the reality of the Investment Agreement. We would advise the people of Mongolia to make their own minds up by visiting http://www.ot.mn/mn/about-us/investment-agreement.
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.
For more information, connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.