Rio Tinto Lines Up $4 Billion to Expand Massive Mongolian Copper Mine
December 15 2015 - 1:52AM
Dow Jones News
By Rhiannon Hoyle
SYDNEY-- Rio Tinto Ltd. and its partners have lined up a
combined $4.4 billion from more than 15 lenders to fund the
expansion of a Mongolian copper mine.
An enormous minerals trove that could eventually represent up to
a third of landlocked Mongolia's economy, Oyu Tolgoi has been beset
by delays and complicated negotiations between those involved in
the venture. Rio-controlled Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd., a
Canadian-listed miner, owns 66% of the Oyu Tolgoi project. The
Mongolian government owns the rest.
Turquoise Hill said the owners have signed a $4.4 billion
project finance package with 15 commercial banks and several other
credit agencies, including the U.S. Export-Import Bank, for the
underground development, which could cost as much as $6 billion to
build. Rio Tinto has estimated that up to 80% of the value of the
deposit--located in the southern Gobi Desert, about 80 kilometers
(50 miles) north of the border with China--is tied to the proposed
underground operations.
Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 15, 2015 01:37 ET (06:37 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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