KHANBOGD SOUM HONOURS SENIOR OT EMPLOYEES WITH HONOURARY CITIZENSHIPS

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Oyu Tolgoi LLC reported Thursday that its senior employees have been presented with honourary citizenships by the people of Khanbogd. Last Friday, during the Khanbogd Market fair, Ivan Vella, OT’s Chief Operating Officer; D.Garamjav, Chief Geologist; and T.Munkhbat, Deputy Director of Resource Strategy and Innovation, were presented with the awards to mark their contributions to the development of the soum. D.Garamjav and T.Munkhbat were part of the original exploration teams at OT, while Ivan Vella has been with the business since 2011 and is a regular visitor to the Khanbogd soum centre as part of his overall responsibility for managing the OT site. Ivan Vella said: “This is a huge and humbling honour for me, and for everyone within the OT family. Khanbogd is my home and I will take this honour with me wherever I may go in the future. The people of Khanbogd have consistently acted as wise counsel to our business, helping us to plan our development in a way which can bring benefits for the whole community and make us into the successful and sustainable business we are today. “We will continue to work closely with the local community to maintain our trusted partnership and ensure the value of the mine is felt by everyone.” Chairman of the Citizen’s Representative Council of Khanbogd soum, Mr. Kh.Nekhiit said "The management of OT is strongly focused on cooperating with our soum. “Ivan Vella, who previously managed OT’s Procurement department, has done a lot to strengthen the local supply chain and develop our economy. Today, he manages the mine site and helped us to establish Galba park and celebrate the soum’s anniversary. On behalf of the local community, the Citizen’s Representative Council awarded him the title Honourary citizen of Khanbogd soum. “I believe that cooperation and partnership between the company and our soum will expand further, for the benefit of all.” The full title of the honours bestowed is: “declaration of honourary citizenship of Khanbogd for great accomplishments, for the sake of development and people, that have left bright imprints in our soum history”.