Customs dispute solved at Rio's Oyu Tolgoi

(Reuters) - A customs dispute that had been holding up copper concentrate shipments from Rio Tinto's (RIO.AX)(RIO.L)(RIO.N) massive Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia has been resolved, Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd (TRQ.TO) said on Monday.

Oyu Tolgoi had been scheduled to start shipping to customers in China after opening in July, but was forced to stockpile material while buyers negotiated import approvals.

Turquoise Hill, 66-percent owner of the $6 billion mine run by Rio Tinto, said customers have received the needed approvals, and a convoy carrying concentrate left its warehouse on the Chinese border on Saturday.

"The withdrawal of concentrate from the warehouse by customers is expected to ramp up quickly," said the Toronto-listed company in a statement. It said the mine will now start recording revenue.

Oyu Tolgoi's concentrator has been operating at full capacity, processing some 100,000 tonnes of ore each day.

Turquoise Hill reiterated that it expects shipments to be in line with its production by the end of this year.

(The story corrects owner, operator of mine in paragraph 3.)

(Reporting by Allison Martell; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Jeffrey Benkoe)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog