It
is likely that a smelter will eventually be developed to process a portion of
the concentrates from the Oyu Tolgoi mine, but probably not for at least ten
years or so, Ivanhoe Mines investor relations manager Bill Trenaman has said.
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,” 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.”