Mongolia’s Oyu Tolgoi expected to build inventory – Turquoise Hill
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Global miner Rio Tinto’s massive Oyu Tolgoi mine, in Mongolia, is expected to build inventory during 2014, subsidiary Turquoise Hill said on Wednesday.
TSX- and NYSE-listed Turquoise Hill, which is 50.8%-owned by Rio Tinto, and which owns a 66% stake in the giant mine, said that daily shipment rates of concentrate were not yet aligned with production rates, as two of Oyu Tolgoi's receiving smelters had experienced technical difficulties and consistent customer delivery schedules had not yet been embedded.
Some sales volumes had also been deferred into the second and third quarters of 2014 and had resulted in the expectation that inventories would build during the first quarter. The mine was expected to return to more normal inventory levels by the end of the year.
Oyu Tolgoi produced 76 700 t of copper in concentrates in 2013, and copper and gold in concentrates were 8% and 18% higher in the fourth quarter, when compared with the third quarter, respectively. The concentrator throughput in December was above target.
Turquoise Hill said customers began to collect product during the fourth quarter and by December 31, they had picked up 26 400 t of concentrate.
For 2014, Turquoise Hill expected Oyu Tolgoi to produce 150 000 t to 175 000 t of copper in concentrates and 700 000 oz to 750 000 oz of gold in concentrates.
The miner said Oyu Tolgoi had signed contracts for 2014 delivery for the majority of the inventory on hand at the end of 2013.
TSX- and NYSE-listed Turquoise Hill, which is 50.8%-owned by Rio Tinto, and which owns a 66% stake in the giant mine, said that daily shipment rates of concentrate were not yet aligned with production rates, as two of Oyu Tolgoi's receiving smelters had experienced technical difficulties and consistent customer delivery schedules had not yet been embedded.
Some sales volumes had also been deferred into the second and third quarters of 2014 and had resulted in the expectation that inventories would build during the first quarter. The mine was expected to return to more normal inventory levels by the end of the year.
Oyu Tolgoi produced 76 700 t of copper in concentrates in 2013, and copper and gold in concentrates were 8% and 18% higher in the fourth quarter, when compared with the third quarter, respectively. The concentrator throughput in December was above target.
Turquoise Hill said customers began to collect product during the fourth quarter and by December 31, they had picked up 26 400 t of concentrate.
For 2014, Turquoise Hill expected Oyu Tolgoi to produce 150 000 t to 175 000 t of copper in concentrates and 700 000 oz to 750 000 oz of gold in concentrates.
The miner said Oyu Tolgoi had signed contracts for 2014 delivery for the majority of the inventory on hand at the end of 2013.
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