Premium Resources shares jump on Botswana copper-nickel project initial resource
The resource estimate outlines 44.2 million inferred tonnes grading 0.3% copper and 0.24% nickel.
Shares in Turquoise Hill Resources (TSX:TRQ), operator of the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia, jumped 10% on news that expansion of the already massive copper-gold mine may now go ahead on schedule.
Turquoise Hill’s market value climbed back above the $5 billion level on the news, recovering from a four-and-a-half-year low hit on Monday after controlling shareholder Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) said its putting on hold a the $5 billion underground project while it waits for Mongolian parliamentary approval for a funding package.
But on Thursday, Prime Minister Norov Altankhuyag said: “Parliament has already made the decision and signed their agreement. Cabinet doesn’t have to be involved. All issues can be discussed and decided at the board of directors’ level,” according to a Reuters press report..
Mongolia owns 34% of Oyu Tolgoi located in the South Gobi desert and the government of the Asian nation has been at loggerheads with Turquoise Hill, owner the remainder of the mine, for months.
The Asian nation twice held up shipments from the $6.6 billion mine which is set to contribute as much as a third of the nation’s economy if the second phase underground expansion were to go ahead.
Apart from disagreement over Oyu Tolgoi’s expansion, which Turquoise Hill (then Ivanhoe Mines) has been advancing for more than a decade, cost overruns, the employment and pay of Mongolian workers, contractors and corporate governance, taxation and the repatriation of earnings also remain sticking points.
Vancouver-based Turquoise Hill said yesterday Oyu Tolgoi will produce 75,000 to 80,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate this year.
At full tilt, the mine is set to produce more than 1.2 billion pounds of copper worth over $4 billion at today’s prices, 650,000 ounces of gold ($800 million) and 3 million ounces of silver (under $100 million) each year.
3 Comments
Jackie
In this picture, this truck actually is my brothers’ truck. My brother was driving the first shipment of Oyu Tolgoi and his truck and himself was on the news everywhere. I’m so proud of my beautiful brother.
Apple
Every bit of good news related to this project is meet with another demand by the Mongolian government. Just wait for the next demand.
Concerned
Well that is great news for the Mongolian people but the lingering question is what underhand payments have had to be made for this continuation.
Anti-corruption nonprofit Transparency International has released its
2013 Global Corruption Barometer, which surveyed residents in 107
countries.Out take from the:
More than half of the world’s population believes corruption in the
public sector is a very serious problem. Liberia and Mongolia are the
two most corrupt countries in the world, according to a recent study. In
both countries, 86% of residents believe corruption in the public
sector is a very serious problem. Residents in the vast majority of
countries around the world believe corruption has only gotten worse in
the past two years.
Number 2. Mongolia
Pct. saying corruption very serious: 86% (tied for the highest)
Pct. claiming public officials corrupt: 77% (12th highest)
Pct. claiming police corrupt: 66% (49th highest)
2012 GDP per capita: $5,372
Mongolia
had one of the world’s fastest growing economies in 2012, when its GDP
rose an estimated 12.3%, according to the IMF. But corruption has been
identified by USAID as a critical threat to the country’s continued
growth as well as to its democracy. Corruption has become pervasive in
the country, after “rapid transition to democracy and a market economy
created huge demands on bureaucracy that lacks the [means] to prevent
corruption,” according to the organization. Encouragingly, less than
half of all people surveyed in the country said that corruption had
increased in the past two years, versus 53% of respondents worldwide.
Also, while 77% of people considered public officials to be corrupt,
just 12% believed the country’s government to be run by a few large,
purely self-interested entities.