A bit of a long read, but I don't think any of the...

A bit of a long read, but I don't think any of the bolded/underlined sentences below are in any way lost on EXR Management. They cannot move fast enough and I believe are in good position for the holistic solutions for Mongolia and Rio as it is all intertwined with the various moves and positions:

From Australian Financial Review 3/14/23:

Rio Tinto and the Mongoliangovernment are yet to thrash out a deal on taxes and other issues aroundthe giant Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in which they are partners, despite athaw in relations.

Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm confirmed yesterday that international arbitration proceedings in the long-running taxdispute between the Oyu Tolgoi partners had been put on hold pendingtalks aimed at finding a resolution.

Mr Stausholm said Rio Tinto was hopeful of settling the tax dispute and other issues soon, but it took "two totango".

He said Rio and the Mongolian government had been able to"move mountains" lately as Rio looks to unlock the true valueof a $US15 billion ($22.5 billion) investment in OyuTolgoi.

However, there is no end in sight to the mine relying on China for its power and on Russia for its key inputs, albeit at arms length through a network of Mongolian-basedsuppliers.

Mongolian prime minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene and Mr Stausholm appeared together 1.3 kilometres below ground at Oyu Tolgoi yesterday for a celebration to mark the start of sustainableunderground production.

Mr Stausholm said the company's relationship with Mongolia had entered a new era as block cave mining deep underground starts tounlock the copper and gold riches of the deposit deep in the south GobiDesert.

Rio later continued its charm offensive in Mongolia by signing amemorandum of understanding that commits it to supporting the work ofMongolia in investigating the building of a copper smelter and a ringroad around the sometimes gridlocked capital Ulaanbaatar.

Asked if Rio was close to settling the tax dispute, Mr Stausholm said: "I hope so, but it takes two to tango.

"There was no way we could solve everything in onego."

Rio has said previously that Oyu Tolgoi received a tax assessment for about $US155 million in 2018 relating to an audit ontaxes already imposed and paid by the mine between 2013 and 2015.

It is understood Rio is reluctant to concede and pay up because of the risk of setting a precedent for future tax bills. Mr Stausholm has been focused on repairing the relationship since early last year when he struck a deal to waive the $US2.4 billiondebt the Mongolian government owed to the project after Rio and itspartners had covered the construction costs owing from Mongolia's 34 percent stake.

The revised deal included undertakings from Rio to protect scarce water resources essential to nearby communities herding livestock and to ensure social infrastructure was provided for workers drawn to the mine.
The deal overcame an impasseon underground mining and later in 2022, Rio completed a gruelling $US3.3 billion takeover of Turquoise Hill to simplify the ownershipstructure and give it the remaining 66 per cent stake in its ownright.

Rio thinks the trouble and expense has been worth it, with OyuTolgoi set to emerge as the world's fourth-biggest copper mine and oneRio sees as having potential to operate well into next century.

It is hailed as the most sophisticated and biggest block cave mine in the world and targeted to achieve peak production of 500,000 a year of copper by about 2029. The mine already employs more than 20,000 people and 97 per cent of the workforce is Mongolian.

Apart from sorting out its remaining issues with the Mongolian government, Rio needs to work out a long-term power source for themine.

Rio copper boss Bold Baatar said its power supply deal withChina, the dominant buyer of copper concentrate from Oyu Tolgoi, hadexpired and was in the throes of being renegotiated.

Mr Baatar estimated about 30 per cent of the power from China came from wind turbines on the Chinese side of the Gobi Desert.

Rio Tinto is under pressure to come up with a renewable sourcein Mongolia, where the government says a lack of generation capacity isholding back economic development.

The author travelled to Mongolia as a guest of RioTinto.