Turquoise Hill said the updated cost and schedule for the ongoing underground expansion of Oyu Tolgoi incorporates the known, incremental covid-19 cost impacts, associated taxes and an estimate of further pandemic-related management costs over the remaining development schedule.
It means that the project total cost has climbed to $7.06 billion, almost $1.8 billion higher than the original estimate in 2015.
As of the end of the second quarter, the firm had invested a total of $5.3 billion in the Mongolian asset, leaving the $1.8 billion remaining.
Mining giant Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO), which controls and operates Oyu Tolgoi through its 51% stake in Turquoise Hill, is currently trying to buy all the shares it doesn’t already own in the Canadian miner.
Rio’s chief executive Jakob Stausholm has said he believes the acquisition would simplify the ownership structure, and further strengthen the company’s copper…
