Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Oyu Tolgoi LLC, Mongolia's largest copper and gold mining company - a strategic partnership between the Government of Mongolia, Turquoise Hill Resources and Rio Tinto, has released its latest performance scorecard, highlighting key performance metrics for the second quarter of 2021, providing an update on the underground development, and its ongoing COVID-19 mitigation measures.

The COVID-19 cases increased significantly in Mongolia during Q2 2021, causing a series of lockdowns in the country and South Gobi region which limited the ability to maintain normal roster changes for its workers. This resulted in personnel numbers below 25% of planned requirements at certain points during the quarter. The COVID-19 restrictions adversely impacted both the open pit operations and underground development progress. 

“We are prioritizing commencement of the undercut process as soon as all criteria are achieved and strive to increase the value we are bringing to our country. As at July 9, 2021, 93% of our workforce is fully vaccinated and appropriate controls continue to be followed at site. We continue to cooperate with the government authorities to implement and maintain control measures to protect the health and well-being of our workers as well as the local community,” stated in the Oyu Tolgoi press release. 

Acting Chief Executive Officer of Oyu Tolgoi, Jacques van Tonder, said, “We are closely cooperating with the administration of Unmugovi aimag by transparently providing information about our operation and the COVID-19 situation at the mine site. Our donation of the necessary personal protective equipment and 9,000 doses of the Sputnik-V vaccine was the demonstration of how we are fighting together against the global pandemic. I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the great resilience of our employees, contractor companies and the government officials who are supporting us in this difficult time to run our operation safe and effectively. In addition, the Oyu Tolgoi family is celebrating the 10th anniversary of our Open Pit mine, creating value and contributing to the national and local economies. Oyu Tolgoi is proud to be contributing 10 per cent of the national budget, according to the recent independent study by National University of Mongolia.

“At Oyu Tolgoi, we’re getting close to the commence the caving operations (undercut) so that we would be able to deliver the full benefits of Oyu Tolgoi to our stakeholders including the people of Mongolia. We look forward to seeing the required criteria achieved including registration of the updated Resources and Reserves and acceptance of the updated Feasibility Study by the relevant governmental agencies to enable us commencing the undercut.”

Some updates on the performance results for the second quarter of 2021 include; 

Operational Update

Prioritised the safety and achieved an All Injury Frequency Rate (AIFR) of 0.20 per 200,000 people/hours worked. This still indicates Oyu Tolgoi’s strong safety performance among other operations of Rio Tinto where the average AIFR stood at 0.39 for the same quarter.

Maintained excellent water-conservation practices, achieving the highest water use efficiency rates per tonne of ore production, using 0.34 cubic meters of raw water per tonne of ore processed - three times less than similar operations worldwide. Achieved an average water-recycling rate of 89.1 per cent, compared to a target of 80 per cent.

96.2 per cent of Oyu Tolgoi’s workforce are Mongolian citizens.

Paid US$503 million in the form of taxes, fees and other payments to the Government of Mongolia in the second quarter of 2021. Since 2010, Oyu Tolgoi has paid US$3.4 billion in taxes, fees and other payments, including VAT to Mongolian suppliers.

Partnered with 628 suppliers in the second quarter of 2021, including 407 national businesses, accounting for 75 per cent of the total operations procurement spend.

Q2 2021 Performance Scorecard can be viewed here.

Production Update

Q2 2021 concentrate shipments to customers were impacted by the COVID-19 related border restrictions which resulted in force majeure being declared from 30 March 2021. Shipments to Chinese customers recommenced on April 15, 2021 and we continue to work closely with local and Chinese authorities to manage the supply chain disruptions. The force majeure will remain in place until there are sufficiently sustained volumes of convoys crossing the border to ensure the ability to meet our ongoing commitments to customers and to return on-site concentrate inventory to target levels.

Source: www.ot.mn