Cameron McRae: By the end of the year Oyu Tolgoi will start its gold and copper export

May 22 (Mongolian Economy) Currently, 85 percent of construction work at Oyu Tolgoi has been finished, which means from 15th August 2012, ore will be explored from its gold and copper mines. Enrichment processes will continue until the end of the year, however. Thus, the very first gold and copper will be exported in December. Road constructions to Chinese border have begun. In a press statement yesterday, the CEO of Oyu Tolgoi LLC Cameron McRae said "After a half year, a thousand tonnes of ore will be explored a day".

The constructions at the underground mine has been started and by early 2017, ore will be explored from it. It is estimated to deliver 20 thousand tonnes of ore each day in its first year of commissioning. In the further years, the underground mine is expected to explore up to 95 tonnes of ore a day. That means it would make more profits than the open pit mine. Oyu Tolgoi would pay USD 700 million to the Mongolian government by the end of this year. Next year it is expected to pay USD 1 billion, in 2016 USD 2 billion and in 2021 a total of USD 15 billion as taxation.

McRae added "The Oyu tolgoi contract procedure lasted for about six years. As a result, Mongolian government has agreed to hold up to 36 percent of the company. During the agreement, it is decided that even though the government holds a great deal of Oyu Tolgoi it will not make any investments. It will not face any risks of debts. According to a study, the government will benefit from 55 percent of total profits. Thus, the contract has been both good and quality".

He also said "I, personally, wonder about two things. The one is the criticism from the public to its government team. Lately, there have been press releases which stated that because of the agreement Mongolia has amounted debts that would last 63 years. That is also surprising. If it was uncertain whether we would make profits or not, "Rio" wouldn't have signed the agreement in first place".

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