Oyu Tolgoi LLC launches export of products

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ A ceremony took place on Tuesday to open the export of copper concentrate produced by the concentrating plant at the Oyu Tolgoi mine. Present at the ceremony were N.Altankhuyag, the Prime Minister; D.Gankhuyag, the Minister of Mining; G.Batsukh, head of the Representative Leading Council of the Oyu Tolgoi LLC (OT); Cameron McRae, OT President and Chief Executive Officer; and other officials. The Prime Minister acknowledged that a condition has been created for the Oyu Tolgoi project to export its products to foreign countries. Then he has been given a sample of copper concentrate. By the OT investment contract which was established in October of 2009 between the government of Mongolia and the investors, investment of MNT 7.8 trillion (USD 6.2 billion) will be made to the OT mine. According to the chronicle, the very first exploration was done at the OT mine in 1989. As the Canada’s Turquoise Hill Resource Ltd estimated in 2001, the mine has the mineral reserves to be exploited for at least 50 years. The open pit started last year’s July, whereas the copper concentration plant put into use in December of 2012. It is expected that some 80 per cent ore will be extracted from the underground mine by the year 2016. One of the mining giants, the Rio Tinto Group owns major part of the Turquoise Hill Resource Ltd’s stocks, and has been serving as the OT project’s chair since 2010. The OT LLC co-owns 66% of the shares of the Turquoise Hill Resource Ltd and 34% of the state-onwed Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi LLC’s stocks.