Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar – Rio Tinto is the official supplier of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games medals. On 2 July, Rio Tinto chairman, Jan du Plessis, handed over the medals to Lord Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, during the event held in the Tower of London.
Rio Tinto’s Kennecott Utah Copper mine in the USA and the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia, proudly supplied the metal to make the 4,700 gold, silver and bronze medals.
The medals will be presented to the athletes at 805 Victory ceremonies that will take place in over 30 London 2012 venues across the UK. Until then they will be guarded by Yeoman Warders at the Tower of London. This historic landmark has served as a Fortress and treasury for Her Majesty's Royal Palace, for the last 600 years.
Supplying 8 tons of metal for Olympic and Paralympic medals is an historic event for Rio Tinto. The majority of the raw metals came from Kennecott Utah Mine, USA and samples were supplied from Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia. Kennecott Utah Copper is one of the largest mines in the world and has been operating for over 100 years. The newly constructed Oyu Tolgoi mine is planned to begin full operation in August 2012.
Chairman Jan du Plessis said: “Metals from our mines in the mountains of Utah and the deserts of Mongolia have now been transformed into these beautiful gleaming medals. All Rio Tinto employees around the world are immensely proud to be playing a small part in the excitement of London 2012.”
Rio Tinto aims to be the best mining company in terms of environmental management and maintaining sustainable production. The company has implemented world class techniques, equipment and technology at the Kennecott Utah Copper operation. Oyu Tolgoi benefits from this shared knowledge and is implementing the same best practices and technologies learned from one of the world’s most successful copper mines.
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), Ivanhoe Mines (66 per cent) and Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto is the major shareholder in Ivanhoe Mines 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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