– First ore production set for a 4th quarter start –
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – We are pleased to inform you that advancement at the Oyu Tolgoi project, which is key to the development and economic growth of Mongolia, has hit an important milestone – 90 per cent completion.
The Oyu Tolgoi project is set to start first ore production in the 4th quarter of this year – 6 months ahead of the original schedule. In addition to bringing forward the completion date by finishing an extraordinary amount of construction in 27 months instead 33 months, this progress has also enabled product marketing while the price of copper is stable, which is of great significance to the financial vitality of the country.
An investment totaling 7.8 trillion MNT (US$6 billion) will be pumped into the Mongolian economy prior to mine commissioning. This project employs 9,621 Mongolians and nearly 1,700 domestic entities and organisations have supplied the project since its inception. Additionally, over 1,000 domestic suppliers have provided goods and services valued at 1.7 trillion MNT (US$1.3 billion) to the project in 2011 alone.
The Oyu Tolgoi project will pay 900 billion MNT (US$700 million) to the Government of Mongolia before operations begin. During the implementation of the project the Government of Mongolia will obtain upwards of 70 per cent of its overall cash flow solely from dividends, taxes, royalties and other types of payments and fees.
As such, the people of Mongolia have already begun to benefit from Oyu Tolgoi without having to wait for the project to post profits.
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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