Oyu Tolgoi donates 900 Million MNT of equipment to Erdenet

State-of-the-art training machines prepare students for mining work

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (ot.mn) – Oyu Tolgoi recently gathered leaders from the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector to take part in a ribbon cutting ceremony in Erdenet. At the ceremony, 900 million MNT (USD700,000) of equipment was officially donated to the Technological School of Erdenet Factory.

Y. Otgonbayar, Minister for Education, Culture and Science (MECS); and MP Damba-Ochir were among those in attendance. “Oyu Tolgoi donated millions of dollars of equipment that we would not otherwise have been able to purchase on own,” said Y. Otgonbayar. “They should be recognised for providing world-class training technology for our students.”

At the ceremony, Oyu Tolgoi handed over several pieces of state of the art equipment including:

• 4 CAT simulators (heavy equipment operators, etc) with e-learning tools;
• a Welding simulator; and 
• vital new metallurgical lab equipment.

This equipment, along with the high standard of teaching and curriculum in place, is certain to help train some of the most highly skilled Mongolians in the sector.

Over 75 students in apprenticeship programmes supported by Oyu Tolgoi and various schools around Mongolia were in Erdenet for the ceremony. Oyu Tolgoi was acknowledged for supporting simmilar projects across Mongolia.

Since September, over one hundred students have entered training,” noted Enkhjargal D., Director of the Dornod Technological School. “Oyu Tolgoi should be commended for their work to support students all across Mongolia through vocational education programmes.”

Oyu Tolgoi Vice President, David Paterson had this to say about the company’s goals for training: “We could have agreed to pledge financial support for training only people in roles needed to help complete mining tasks at Oyu Tolgoi, but our commitment to Mongolia is much larger than that. Our goal is to support training for Mongolians to work both at Oyu Tolgoi and other projects in the country.”

Facts about Oyu Tolgoi’s investment in vocational training and education include:

• Approximatly 110 billion MNT is being invested in training and education over a five year period, meaning Oyu Tolgoi’s is making the largest investment in vocational training ever made in Mongolia.
• Many of the job skills are transferable – jobs will be created in IT, environmental management, accountancy mining, building and road infrastructure construction and mechanical engineering.
• Some 3300 Mongolians are being trained in 18 different industrial sectors at 42 Technical and Vocational Education and Training schools with full financial support from Oyu Tolgoi.

About Oyu Tolgoi LLC (www.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 Oyu Tolgoi. 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 one 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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