6 November 2020

Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project heads for arbitration

Turquoise Hill Resources has started arbitration proceedings against its part owner Rio Tinto over how to fund a multibillion-dollar cost overrun at Oyu Tolgoi.

First flight landing at Gudai Darri, Australia
First flight landing at Gudai Darri, Australia
© Rio Tinto

The underground expansion of Oyu Tolgoi in the Gobi desert, Mongolia, is an important project in terms of sustainability as copper demand increases to serve renewable energy and electric vehicles. However, it is running at least US$1.3bln over budget and 16 months behind schedule.

Turquoise Hill Resources and Rio have been following different strategies on finance and Turquoise issued a statement saying that arbitration would provide ‘needed clarity from an independent third party’ of Rio’s obligations under their co-operation pacts.

Meanwhile, Western Australia’s newest airport has opened at Rio Tinto’s Gudai-Darri mine, an iron ore project in the Pilbara, where construction is progressing ahead of the expected production ramp-up in early 2022.

The facility can accept a range of different aircraft including Boeing 737’s, A320’s, F100’s and King Airs. The current flight schedule includes four flights a week with additional flights expected to be added to the schedule next year. The airport is expected to handle more than 600 workers in a day at peak operating times.

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