Source: Bloomberg, Businessweek

Ivanhoe Mines said a ruling in the arbitration proceedings with Rio Tinto Group over a shareholder-rights plan is expected in December. Hearings before the arbitrator began 4 October and ended 4 November.

Ivanhoe and London-based Rio have been in arbitration over Ivanhoe's adoption last year of a ‘rights plan’ and Ivanhoe's claim that Rio broke an agreement not to discuss selling a stake in Ivanhoe or the Oyu Tolgoi mine with potential buyers without Ivanhoe's permission. Rio, which owns 49 percent of Ivanhoe, is barred from making a hostile bid for Ivanhoe under an agreement that expires 18 January.

Overall construction of Oyu Tolgoi was 54 percent complete as of the end of the third quarter and should be more than 70 percent complete by the end of this year Ivanhoe said today. Commercial production is expected to begin within the first half of 2013.