Source: OT Newsletter                      Date: 03 December, 2010

The Human Resources Department of Oyu Tolgoi LLC is busy formulating ways to ensure that Mongolians constitute 90 percent of the work force when production begins in 2013. In September, 100 Mongolian nationals began a 10-month course at Erdenet Technical Training School and another 43 started a diesel mechanic course with Wagner Asia Mongolia at the Mongolian-Korean Technical College. Over the next five years Oyu Tolgoi will invest USD58 million in training and education to prepare the work force for the start of operations, and to support mining operations throughout Mongolia in the future. The signs of this investment can already be seen in the South Gobi capital Dalanzadgad, where the foundation for a new professional training and vocational centre was laid in a ceremony in August.

Five vocational training schools in Ulaanbaatar will have their facilities and curricula upgraded. A USD10-million program of scholarships is also being developed, to support Mongolian students at Mongolian universities and abroad.  Meanwhile at the Oyu Tolgoi site, on-the-job training programs are helping inexperienced or underqualified workers to improve their skill levels.

Of the 5,758 workers now employed by Oyu Tolgoi, 3,741 or 63% are Mongolian nationals, and 928 of them are from the South Gobi province.