Source: http://www.miningweekly.com                  Date: 08 December, 2010

It is likely that a smelter will eventually be developed to process a portion of the concentrates from the Oyu Tolgoi copper/gold mine in Mongolia, but probably not for at least ten years or so, Ivanhoe Mines investor relations manager Bill Trenaman said on Monday. The investment agreement signed between Ivanhoe and the government of Mongolia requires the Vancouver-based company to undertake a feasibility study for a potential smelter, but there is no obligation on actually building the plant. “But bottom line, yes, we see eventually a smelter being built in Mongolia,” he said.

“I think both ourselves and the other partners on the project believe that a smelter makes sense in Mongolia on a longer term basis, maybe a ten-year period, Mr. Treneman said at a conference in Montreal. The Oyu Tolgoi project will produce “a tremendous amount of concentrates” at full capacity. China is the logical market for the bulk of the production, he said. “The Chinese are very keen to get long-term off-take agreements on this.”