Over 80 per cent of Khanbogd Residents use Oyu Tolgoi Dental Clinic

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Massive success for treatment centre donated by mine

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (ot.mn) – Four out of five residents of Khanbogd Soum have benefited from the construction of a dental clinic in the town’s hospital, according to the dentist who runs the operation. The clinic was inaugurated on February 16th, 2009.

Ts. Daram 28, the dental nurse in charge of the clinic, studied in Ulaan Bataar and came to Khanbogd Soum to run the centre. She said that the services had been used by the vast majority of the residents in the two years it has been open.

“This is the first and only fully-equipped dental clinic in the town, and before Oyu Tolgoi paid for this facility there was no way to receive this kind of care”, she said. She added that she had been keeping careful note of the numbers of people that had visited the clinic since she started.

Oyu Tolgoi paid for the clinic as part of an assistance program that also included two major upgrades to the hospital and the donation of an ambulance. Khanbogd Soum, the closest town to the Oyu Tolgoi site, continues to benefit from donations and supplies from the mine. Oyu Tolgoi donates diesel for the generators, supplied a vehicle for the police force, and is helping build an extension to the local school.

Cameron McRae, Oyu Tolgoi CEO, said that the clinic’s success was great news for Khanbogd. “I congratulate Ts. Daram and I know that she is doing a lot of good in the town”, he said. “I know there was no dental treatment available in Khanbogd before this, and its success is down to a lot of hard work by a lot of people, especially Ts. Daram. Oyu Tolgoi is proud of the clinic and the great work it continues to do.”

About Oyu Tolgoi (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, Ivanhoe Mines 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 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$85 million dollars (110 billion tugriks) in training.

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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