Rio Tinto has outlined a long-awaited development pathway for the proposed $US6.75B underground development at the Oyu Tolgoi project in the southern Gobi region of Mongolia, with the aim of achieving sustainable production by Oct 2022.
First steps will be to finalise government approvals, funding and a power solution for the mine, owned 66% by Rio subsidiary Turquoise Hill Resources and 34% by the Mongolia government.
Oyu Tolgoi is expected to be the fourth largest copper mine in the world by 2030 and deliver combined openpit and underground production of 480,000tpa Cu in 2028-36 - compared to its 2019 openpit output of 146,300t.