Mongolia”s government said it plans to review all foreign mining
investments, but pledged not to single out a deal with Rio Tinto to develop the
huge Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine, in a move that could calm investor concerns
over growing resource nationalism.

Mining minister Ganhuyag Davaajav told media last week the new mining
“action plan” over the next four years was likely to call for changes
to the 2009 Oyu Tolgoi deal, which granted 66 percent of the deposit to
Canada”s Ivanhoe Mines, now known as Turquoise Hill Resources and
majority-owned by Rio Tinto.

But a proposal calling for the deal to be renegotiated was voted down during
a heated parliamentary debate on Tuesday.

“In the government action plan, we did not specifically name Oyu
Tolgoi, but we said that all investment agreements in the mining and energy
sector need to be reviewed carefully,” Mongolian prime minister Altankhuyag
Norov was quoted as saying by news portal news.mn.

The report said Altankhuyag intended to subject the Oyu Tolgoi agreement to
a full and transparent parliamentary hearing and resolve the debate “once
and for all”.

London-listed private equity firm Origo Partners, which owns mines in
Mongolia, welcomed the move, saying in a note that it showed the Oyu Tolgoi
project would not be subject to special treatment and that the government
remained “predominantly moderate and understands the importance of foreign
investment.”

Located 550 km (340 miles) southwest of the capital Ulan Bator, Oyu Tolgoi
is said to be one of the three largest copper and gold deposits in the world.
Rio Tinto and Turquoise Hill will have plowed $6 billion into the mine by the
time the first phase of construction is complete.

The construction phase at Oyu Tolgoi is expected to formally wrap up next
month and commercial production of ore will commence in the first half of 2013.

ULAN BATOR, Sept 19 (Reuters)