Ivanhoe reported a quarterly profit, as gains from its coal subsidiary and a settlement of notes receivable outweighed exploration costs sending shares up more than 4 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). The company said it spent USD 2.2 billion on Oyu Tolgoi in the first nine months of 2011 slightly over the budget of USD 2.1 million and that development was 54.4 percent complete at the end of September.

Vancouver-based Ivanhoe which is led by Robert Friedland and is 49 percent owned by global mining giant Rio Tinto, is focused on developing the Oyu Tolgoi project, which is located in Mongolia's South Gobi region and is one of the largest discussions over possible changes. Shares of Ivanhoe rose to CAD 21.67 (USD 21.08). Ivanhoe reported net income of USD 7.3 million, or 1 cent a share in the third quarter, ended 30 September. A year earlier it experienced a USD 24.9 million loss, or 5 cents a share. Revenue rose to USD 60.5 million from 6.6 million.

Ivanhoe has spent about USD 3.2 billion on construction at Oyu Tolgoi so far. The company said costs in 2012 are expected to be in line with earlier estimates. The project's average annual output during its first 10 years of commercial production is expected to exceed 650,000 ounces of gold, 3 million ounces of silver, and 1.2 billion pounds (544,000 tons) of copper.

Ivanhoe Mines said this week that the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project will be 70 percent complete by the end of 2011 with commercial production expected in the first half of 2013. Ivanhoe expects most of the copper to be delivered to China.