Mar 19 2015
Turquoise Hill Resources today announced that Oyu Tolgoi has filed a statutory 2015 Oyu Tolgoi Feasibility Study (OTFS 2015) with the Mongolian Minerals Council (MMC). Under Mongolian law, Oyu Tolgoi is required to submit an update to the feasibility study at least every five years; the 2009 Oyu Tolgoi Feasibility Study was accepted in March 2010.
When outstanding shareholder matters have been resolved, an updated feasibility study will be submitted to replace OTFS 2015 for acceptance by the MMC.
OTFS 2015 is based on the same study as, and is consistent with, the 2014 Oyu Tolgoi Technical Report, which was disclosed by Turquoise Hill in October 2014. However, since the specific commencement date for development of the underground Hugo North block cave is unknown and dependent on resolution of shareholder matters, the OTFS 2015 study reserve case presents the underground without a start date and separate from the open pit.
A life of mine case is also presented in OTFS 2015. In this case, a long-dated nominal start date was assumed for underground development. This date was selected only to deal with the uncertainty of commencement and does not reflect an intended underground restart date.
Turquoise Hill, Rio Tinto and the Government of Mongolia continue to work together to resolve shareholder matters and finalize project finance in order to restart underground mine development at Oyu Tolgoi.