first shipment of copper leaves for china

We could be onto a winner with VOR:) On Tuesday morning July 9, the first shipment of copper concentrates from the rich site at Oyu Tolgoi (OT) in southern Mongolia left for China fifty miles to the south. It was an exciting day and perhaps an inflection point for Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ) which owns OT 66-34% with the GOM (Government of Mongolia). One must mention politics and the government up front in discussing these matters for resource nationalism has been a large part of OT's development for years. Mining giant Rio Tinto (RIO) bought a majority interest in OT from Robert Friedland and Ivanhoe Mines in January 2012, upped its holdings in July 2012 and changed management. RIO controls OT through its 51% share in TRQ.

OT is expected to produce 330k tons of Cu (copper) / year and 495k oz. gold. When Phase I development is complete it will become one of the world's top-five copper sites, vying with the Escondida mine in Chile and Freeport McMoRan's (FCX) Grasberg District in Indonesia.

A recent instance of the project's sensitivity to Mongolian politics was the June 20 request from the government of President Elbegdorj Tsakhia that ore concentrate not be shipped while the Presidential campaign entered its last week. There also had been demands that RIO deposit funds from exports inside Mongolia. RIO has rejected the latter demand but agreed to delay shipping the concentrate. An understanding may have been reached with the President about exports and freedom in depositing proceeds if he was returned to office. On June 26 he won a narrow (50.2%) majority of the vote in a three-way election and has begun his second term. His Democratic Party also controls the legislature and the Prime Minister is a member. This should facilitate clarity in policies including those on foreign investment and exports.