Rio Tinto says Mongolian government will not be given controlling interest in Oyu Tolgoi mine
Friday, 26 September 2008
Rio Tinto officials said on
Tuesday that it would not agree to turning over control of the giant
Oyu Tolgoi copper and goal mine to the Mongolian government.
It is believed mineral deposits
at Oyu Tolgoi are valued at $3 billion.
``We have made very clear that
51 percent ownership by the state is unacceptable and that the sharing
of the pie has to be about 50:50,'' Bret Clayton, chief executive officer
of Rio Tinto Copper, said Tuesday. ``We can look at different ways to
share it, but we can't go any higher than that or the economics of the
project don't stand up.''
Rio Tinto and partner Ivanhoe
Mines Ltd. have spent five years negotiating and reaching agreements
with various governments, only to see the agreements not enacted.
Another reworking of Mongolia’s
mining laws would allow the government to hold as much as 51 percent
of ``strategically important deposits,'' the government announced this
past January.
The latest proposed agreement
has the Mongolian government being a 34 percent owner in Oyu Tolgoi.
However, with taxes, royalties and dividends, the Mongolian government
would actually receive 55 percent of mining revenues.
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The American Center for Mongolian Studies (ACMS) is an independent NGO that
has quickly grown to play a central role in fostering academic cooperation
between US and Mongolian institutions and scholars.
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