Turquoise Hill Resources today announced that Oyu Tolgoi has declared a ‘force majeure’ situation due to a protest by Chinese coal transporters which recently began at the Ganqimaodu (Gants Mod) Border Zone. This has made it impossible for Oyu Tolgoi to fulfil its contracts of delivering copper concentrate to its Chinese customers.

On 8 January  2018, the protestors used a large number of vehicles to obstruct the main access road within China to the Chinese-Mongolian border. Although the border crossing itself is open  the positioning of the protestors’ vehicles has prevented any traffic from safely traversing the border zone, both inbound and outbound, and is continuing to do so.

As a result, while the obstruction remains in place, Oyu Tolgoi convoys are unable to cross through the Chinese-Mongolian border to deliver copper concentrate to customers. Oyu Tolgoi is actively monitoring the situation and engaging with the relevant government authorities to understand the progress of discussions with the participants in the protest activity.

Safe and normal mine operations, including underground development, have been maintained and no production impact is expected. (Turquoise hill resources.com)