Best suppliers win the Gobi Gem awards

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Oyu Tolgoi LLC’s website reported Tuesday that it recognized and celebrated the success of its best Mongolian suppliers. The fifth Gobi Gem - Supplier Recognition Awards ceremony took place at the National Opera and Ballet Theatre in Ulaanbaatar with nine companies named as OT’s best suppliers. Last year, OT commenced shipments of copper concentrate, establishing a new brand of Mongolian mining product and becoming a leading national operating business. This success is rightly shared with OT’s suppliers, some of whom have been working on the project us for nine years. In 2013, OT LLC spent USD 538.1 million on procurement in Mongolia which constitutes almost 76 per cent of total procurement. “We are proud that our national suppliers have created a total of 35,000 jobs. Last year, we worked with a total of 949 national suppliers,” company says. During the supplier recognition ceremony, Chairman of the Board of Directors of OT LLC G.Batsukh said: “All of you have every right to feel proud since in addition to supplying goods and services you have learned and introduced to Mongolia the very best of international standards of quality, safety and labour relations. This is one example of the real benefits of working with OT and the benefits of living in Mongolia, learning in Mongolia and creating value in Mongolia,” CEO of Khasu Megawatt, the winner of the Grand Prix award said Mr.Tumen-Ayush: “Our company started as an energy company and our operations tended to be seasonal in nature. After we started working with OT, we switched to permanent operations. Our hard-working staff have been meeting international standards of performance which in my view helped form a long-term relationship with OT. Also, through OT, we worked with a sewing company, Gobi Uran Shaglaa LLC from Omnogobi aimag to order work uniforms for our employees at the mine site. In future, we plan to use them for uniforms for our employees working in other industries as well. I think it is right for Mongolian companies to support each other,” Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) and community relations manager of Major Drilling LLC said Kh.Monkhbat: “Our company complies with OT’s six life saving rules as well as following our own 10 safety rules based on the specifics of our operations. We are working to put these rules into a manual in order to make it a daily routine in our work. We use environmentally friendly substances and tools in our drilling. Young workers from Major Drilling also performed a world record drilling attempt at the OT mine”. OT’s procurement principles of openness, transparency and cost efficiency are contributing to the growth and competitiveness of national and Omnogobi suppliers. The company said it also continues to fulfill its commitment to strengthen South Gobi businesses. For example, in 2010 the company procured only USD 0.5 million worth of goods and services from South Gobi suppliers which in 2013 this figure rose to USD 9.1 million, and in 2014 the OT LLC are planning to increase this even further to USD 32 million.