A letter to staff from Oyu Tolgoi project president indicates that the massive Mongolian mining project will complete its first shipment of copper concentrate alongside celebrations on Friday, June 21st.
Dear colleagues,
As you aware, last week we postponed the first shipment of our copper concentrate to our international customers. I appreciate that this was an incredibly frustrating moment and I would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding.
I am very happy to announce that we are now ready to ship Oyu Tolgoi’s very first copper concentrate to international markets. The celebration will take place this Friday, 21 June, when we will mark this major step in the creation of a world-class copper business.
This will be an incredibly proud moment for everyone at Oyu Tolgoi and the culmination of many years of hard work by thousands of people. I want to thank you all for the dedication that has allowed us to reach this point.
The main celebrations will take place from 9am on Oyu Tolgoi site, outside the Bagging Plant. The celebration will include speeches from both Oyu Tolgoi and Rio Tinto senior leaders, and a very senior representative of the Mongolian Government. It will also include cultural performances and a special farewell ceremony for our first convoy of trucks.
Your supervisor will inform you about the arrangements in place to safely allow as many people as possible to attend the ceremony.
For our UB-based workforce unfortunately, due to the availability of flight seats, we cannot get everyone to site. Therefore, we will be streaming the event live on the internet. I encourage you to gather with your colleagues to celebrate the event by watching the live broadcast, perhaps together in the conference room of your department.
I hope you will enjoy this historic moment. Please remember that just like every other day, we must not allow anything to distract us from ensuring our whole team’s safety.
President and CEO, Oyu Tolgoi