Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe to continue joint development of Oyu Tolgoi project

Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe Mines have closed the new agreement for Oyu Tolgoi gold copper deposit development in Mongolia. Under the contract clauses Rio Tinto becomes the project operator and will grant Ivanhoe Mines the necessary financing as Ivanhoe will participate in the project designing for the 6 months exceeding the schedule. Rio Tinto will grant it a credit of $1.8 billion for Oyu Tolgoi project. Rio Tinto is going to enlarge its share in Ivanhoe to 49% by purchase of 20 million stocks in the latter. In October 2010 the companies were going to cease conjoint development of the deposit because of disagreements.

In October 2009 Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe signed the agreement with Mongolia Government. Rio Tinto enlarged its share in Ivanhoe to 19.7%. The companies coordinated the deal clauses in October 2006 when Rio Tinto bought 9.95% in Ivanhoe. Production at the deposit will start in 2013. The total project cost is $3 billion. The state share in the project is 34%.

Translated by Nadezhda Poltoratskaya

Source: geonews.com.ua