Press release: Oyu Tolgoi strictly follows and fulfills contractual duties

– Over 74 per cent of the workforce is Mongolian –

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – On 5 October a member of the SGH made groundless statements against Oyu Tolgoi saying that the company is not keeping its promise to increase the Mongolian workforce to 90 per cent. In reality, Mongolian citizens comprise over 90 per cent of Oyu Tolgoi’s total personnel structure and some departments within the company are fully 100% staffed by nationals.

Furthermore, the SGH member’s erroneous statements that subcontractors of the project are not 100 per cent Mongolian, contradicts the facts. Twelve large infrastructure projects are being implemented in the Umnugobi and are managed mostly by Mongolian contractors. A few key projects by Mongolian contractors include a 100 kilometres road to the Chinese border and a 200 kilometres high voltage power supply line.

Any statements that Oyu Tolgoi has not paid taxes are groundless. We would like to stress that Oyu Tolgoi adheres strictly to the laws of Mongolia. In 2011, Oyu Tolgoi became the sixth largest taxpayer in Mongolia and as of September, 2012 a total of US$803 billion or 1 trillion MNT in taxes were paid.

Oyu Tolgoi’s General Manager of Finance, Justin Carey, said “Besides promptly paying taxes, we paid several hundred billion MNTs to the government as an advance”.

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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