Media article on Oyu Tolgoi below, we certainly have the right adress for a major discovery.VOR will attract some attention should the drills keep finding the red stuff.
Rio Tinto forecasts surge in world demand for refined copper Alex MacDonald From: Dow Jones Newswires September 09, 2011 11:16AM
Rio Tinto is the operator of the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia.
GLOBAL demand for refined copper is forecast to rise by more than 40 per cent to 27 million tonnes by 2020, and the massive Mongolian gold and copper Oyu Tolgoi project is strategically positioned to capitalise on that increase as it grows to become a top-five global copper producer, Rio Tinto's Mongolia country director said yesterday. Cameron McRae, who is also chief executive of the Oyu Tolgoi project, said in a presentation that can be found on Rio's website that "there is significant scope for demand growth over the medium to long term", as India and China continue to grow.
China's 2010 gross domestic product per capita was only $US7000 ($6617) compared to $US43,000 for the US, Mr McRae noted. He added that China is forecast to build between four million and five million new buildings between 2005 and 2025 as it continues to undergo fast-paced urbanisation.
Rio Tinto is the operator of the Oyu Tolgoi project and its indirect owner through its 48.5 per cent stake in Canada-based Ivanhoe Mines. Ivanhoe owns a 66 per cent stake in Oyu Tolgoi while the Mongolian government owns the remaining 34 per cent.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. Related Coverage.RIO TINTO: The Mongolia story (PDF) Oyu Tolgoi spend at $70 per second Perth Now, 3 Aug 2011Silver found in Oyu Tolgoi project The Australian, 3 Mar 2011Ivanhoe chief locked in for Mongolia The Australian, 15 Dec 2010Ivanhoe confirms Mongolia project The Australian, 14 Dec 2010Rio to steer Oyu Tolgoi project Herald Sun, 9 Dec 2010..End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. Rio Tinto said the Oyu Tolgoi project alone would boost Mongolia's economy by 35 per cent by 2020 and account for a third of the country's economy. It will boost the country's average economic growth rate to 12.7 per cent between 2013 and 2020, versus 7.7 per cent without the project, Rio Tinto said.
Analysts say that copper supply is expected to lag demand in the near term as mining companies seek to expand production capacity and develop new mines. The presentation didn't reveal Mr McRae's views on supply growth but it noted that 14 per cent of reported global copper resources are in Asia and 13 per cent of the world's deposits account for 77 per cent of the those resources.
Oyu Tolgoi is seen as one of those large deposits and is forecast to become a top-five copper producer, according to Rio Tinto, which cited Brook Hunt's 2013 mine production data and Oyu Tolgoi's full production design capacity.
The Oyu Tolgoi project is forecast to start commercial production in the first half of 2013 and is expected to be able to produce 450,000t of copper and 330,000 troy ounces of gold annually
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