Oyu Tolgoi crosses $7bn in-country spend

• US$180mn taxes paid; US$335.9mn national procurement in 2017
• Underground Project crosses US$1.4bn in commitments with Mongolian companies
• Workforce of approximately 14,000 – including contractors and employees
• Strong Q4 operations performance, full-year guidance met

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia - Oyu Tolgoi today released the latest edition of its scorecard updating on its performance for 2017.

Armando Torres, CEO – Oyu Tolgoi LLC said: “The Oyu Tolgoi team ended 2017 on a strong note, setting new records in material mined and concentrator throughput, and continuing progress in underground development. Oyu Tolgoi also continued to make a significant contribution to Mongolia – with total in-country investment crossing US$7bn, and underground commitments with Mongolian business crossing US$1.4bn, exceeding targets and underscoring the substantial and growing participation of national businesses and workforce in the project.

“Our broader contribution to the economy continued, with US$180mn paid in taxes, and over US$5.7mn invested key sustainable development projects in the South Gobi in 2017. From scholarships to training, we have maintained our focus on developing capacity and skill, working together – Xamtdaa - with all partners and stakeholders to make our vision, from natural wealth to enduring knowledge, value and skill, a reality.”

At the end of the year, the Oyu Tolgoi workforce – including contractors and employees – stood at over 94 per cent Mongolian and 24 per cent female, including the underground development workforce. The company delivered over 243,127 man-hours of training to its workforce of approximately 14,000.

The company continued its world-class environment performance, using only 0.4 cubic-metres of water per-tonne of ore processed – a third compared to similar operations worldwide, and achieving an average water recycling rate of 86.2 per cent water in 2017. Between 2010 and end of 2017 we have completed technical rehabilitation on total of 1,530.85 hectare area out of which 400,5 hectare area has been biologically rehabilitated. Technical rehabilitation was completed on 8.80 hectare area and biological rehabilitation was completed on 33.20 hectare area in 2017 alone.

National and South Gobi procurement stood at $335.9 million and $92.8 million respectively, with Oyu Tolgoi collaborating with over 1,100 suppliers in 2017 – approximately 700 of which are national businesses and accounted for 69 per cent of total operations procurement spend, and 105 are Umnugovi-based suppliers. Oyu Tolgoi has made significant – and successful – efforts to shift international spend to Mongolia, adding value domestically as well as creating new skills and expertise in-country. US$14 million and US$7 million per annum respectively have been spent on sourcing grinding media and lime domestically. The first batch of “Made in Mongolia” expression of interests has been announced and successfully progressing. In this initiative, leather safety gloves supply contract with the domestic company was awarded increasing in-country value add 90 per cent.

Oyu Tolgoi continues to implement comprehensive environmental, community and sustainable development projects in the Umnugobi, including participatory environment monitoring, skilling programmes, pastureland management, biodiversity programmes, training and more.

The Khanbogd community is growing with the mine and reached 6,500 in 2017, from population of just over 2,500 in 2004. Oyu Tolgoi invested in great number of social infrastructure projects in Khanbogd soum in 2017 including Bulk Water Supply Facility, heating system upgrade, flood protection dam, boiler house and two other ongoing projects of school and kindergarten complex and Khanbogd-Oyu Tolgoi paved road construction.

Q4’17 Production

Material mined in Q4’17 increased 5.3 per cent over Q3’17 and ore treated increased 2.1 per cent over Q3’17. Higher mill availability and processing of softer Phase 6 ore in Q4’17 resulted in a 20.8 per cent increase in concentrate production over Q3’17. Copper production in Q4’17 increased 22.8 per cent compared to Q3’17 due to higher grades and improved mill availability. Gold production in Q4’17 increased 12.9 per cent over Q3’17 due to increased grades and higher concentrate production. Oyu Tolgoi’s new records of material mined and ore treated resulted in production of 157,400 tonnes of copper and 114,000 ounces of gold in concentrate and meeting annual production expectations.

Turquoise Hill expects Oyu Tolgoi to produce 125,000 to 155,000 tonnes of copper and 240,000 to 280,000 ounces of gold in concentrates for 2018.

Underground development progress

During Q4’17, underground development continued to progress with Shaft 2 reaching final depth of 1,284 metres in December. Completed sinking of Shaft 2 is expected imminently and fit out is expected throughout 2018. Sinking of Shaft 5 also progressed during Q4’17 and is expected to be complete in Q1’18. Also in December, the fifth development crew became fully operational.

The Oyu Tolgoi Performance Scorecard for Q4 2017 is available here.

Oyu Tolgoi Production Data

All data represents full production and sales on a 100% basis