Today's issue of local newspaper Unuudur reports that the board of directors of Oyu Tolgoi LLC has announced  that it will fire 219 of its full time employees.

According to the report, Oyu Tolgoi LLC has delivered notices to over 100 employees from contract service companies.

Laid off employees will be given three-months of severance pay and 1,100 USD in benefits. The company says the decision to cut employees is due to financial situations.

Rio Tinto and Government of Mongolia have been in talks for more than a year about the funding of an underground expansion of the mine. When negotiations stalled last August, Oyu Tolgoi laid off 1,700 workers and suspended construction of the mine shafts.