Ivanhoe Mines Deputy Chairman:Plan To Keep Majority Stake In Oyu Tolgoi

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (IVN) said Wednesday it is willing to sell a stake in the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project in Mongolia but it plans to remain the majority owner.

Peter Meredith, deputy chairman of Ivanhoe Mines, which owns a 66% stake, said the project "is likely to have another participant before it's all over."

The Mongolian government, which holds a 34% stake, has just approved the investment plan for the project, and construction is already under way with a planned $758 million to be spent in 2010, Meredith told a conference in London.

Rio Tinto PLC (RTP) is the project operator and owns a 22.4% stake in Ivanhoe.

Meredith said Ivanhoe plans to keep a majority stake in the project but would be willing to sell a stake to an interested buyer. An interested buyer would be "anyone who wants a copper cash[flow] stream," he said. "Someone who wants...a bigger portion of the copper flow than we do."

"We've had lots of interest from other majors [but]...we need to be respectful" of the dreams and aspirations of Rio Tinto, he said.

Oyu Tolgoi is expected to enter production in 2013.

-By Alex MacDonald, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)207 842 9328, alex.macdonald@dowjones.com

Ivanhoe Mines (NYSE:IVN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024