Integrated Development Plan for Ivanhoe's Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine expected in early September
05 Juli 2005 - 3:30PM
PR Newswire (US)
Integrated Development Plan for Ivanhoe's Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold
mine expected in early September SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS BEING MADE ON
STABILITY AGREEMENT ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA, July 5
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ivanhoe Mines Chairman Robert Friedland
and President John Macken announced today that the company now
expects to be in a position to finalize and release its new,
independent Integrated Development Plan (IDP) for the Oyu Tolgoi
copper and gold project in Mongolia in early September, 2005,
following in-depth briefings and consultation with relevant
ministries of the Government of Mongolia. Ivanhoe had expected to
receive and release the IDP for Oyu Tolgoi before the end of the
second quarter of 2005. The recent discovery of extensive,
high-grade copper and gold mineralization during drilling into the
deeper portions of the Hugo North Deposit has provided an
opportunity to re-engineer the planned, initial block-cave mining
operation, which now will be deeper and larger than was originally
planned. Ivanhoe's engineering consultants are optimizing the
initial underground block-cave mine production schedules and other
aspects of the design to yield benefits that include increasing the
peak production rate to 100,000 tonnes of ore per day. Open-pit
mining will be configured around the underground production plan to
provide a sustained, total throughput of between 140,000 and
160,000 tonnes of ore per day. The capital and operating cost
estimates required for the IDP can be completed once the final
plans are developed. The IDP, based on the independent resource
estimate prepared by AMEC and released in May, 2005, and an assumed
mine life of approximately 40 years, will provide an informative
summary of the future development of the Oyu Tolgoi Project. The
recent discovery of significant additional high-grade
mineralization in the open-ended Hugo Far North Discovery has
extended the Hugo North deposit by at least 450 metres beyond the
northern limit used in the May, 2005, AMEC estimate. The expected
mine life and/or production rates at Oyu Tolgoi could be
significantly increased if further drilling succeeds in converting
the new mineralization into resources. The IDP is being prepared by
an integrated engineering team of AMEC Americas Limited, of
Vancouver, Canada; Ausenco International Pty. Ltd., of Perth,
Australia; the Mining Group of GRD Minproc Limited, of Perth; and
McIntosh Engineering Inc., of Tempe, Arizona, USA. Other
Perth-based consultants providing their expertise and input are SRK
Consultants and Aquaterra Consulting Pty. Ltd. STABILITY AGREEMENT
UPDATE Mr. Friedland and Mr. Macken also announced that significant
progress has been made recently by Ivanhoe and the relevant
Mongolian Government ministry toward reaching a suitable
arrangement to address Oyu Tolgoi's short-term and long-term
electrical power requirements. An agreement on electrical power is
the last significant issue to be settled before a long-term Special
Stability Agreement for Oyu Tolgoi can be finalized between Ivanhoe
and the Government of Mongolia. Ivanhoe has noted a Bloomberg news
service report April 28th in which Mongolia's Prime Minister
Tsakhya Elbegdorj stated in an interview that stability agreements
could be signed by the end of this summer with mining companies,
including Ivanhoe, planning to invest in the development of coal,
copper and other mineral resources near Mongolia's border with
China. SHAFT NO. 1 UPDATE To bring the underground resources of the
Hugo Dummett Deposit into a proven and probable reserve category
for feasibility purposes, actual underground development and
characterization is required. This will be accomplished by the
planned, 1,300-metre-deep Shaft No.1, currently being developed by
the Redpath Group of North Bay, Ontario, Canada, and subsequent
development of horizontal accesses to the high-grade
mineralization. When completed, the shaft will provide access to
the Hugo North and Hugo South portions of the deposit to enable
completion of detailed feasibility studies, further resource
delineation drilling and rock-characterization work. The target
completion date for Shaft No. 1 is early 2007, with underground
drifting and drilling planned for Hugo North in 2007 and early
2008, and in Hugo South in 2009 and 2010 (see
http://www.ivanhoemines.com/ for a progress update with recent
photographs of Shaft No. 1). In response to growing interest by
international institutional investors, Ivanhoe is arranging a
number of site visits to the Oyu Tolgoi project during August,
September and October specifically to meet their requirements.
Roger Walsh, Ivanhoe's newly appointed Vice-President, Corporate
Development, is coordinating itineraries and may be telephoned at 1
604 331 8604 in Vancouver, Canada. William Hogg, CPEng., MIEAust,
Ivanhoe Mines Project Manager, a qualified person as defined by NI
43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in
this release. Ivanhoe has a 100% interest in the Oyu Tolgoi Project
in Mongolia and owns or controls exploration rights covering
approximately 128,000 square kilometres in central and southern
Mongolia, where additional copper, gold and coal discoveries have
been made. Ivanhoe produces LME grade A copper from its Monywa
joint venture in Myanmar. Ivanhoe shares are listed on the Toronto
and New York stock exchanges under the symbol IVN. Information
contacts: --------------------- Investors: Bill Trenaman:
+1.604.688.5755 / Media: Bob Williamson, +1.604.688.5755
Forward-Looking Statements: Statements in this release that are
forward- looking statements are subject to various risks and
uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed under the
heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the corporation's periodic
filings with Canadian and US securities regulators. When used in
this document, the words such as "could," "plan," "estimate,"
"expect," "intend," "may," "potential," "should," and similar
expressions, are forward-looking statements. The risk factors that
could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking
statements include, but are not restricted to, geological or
mechanical difficulties affecting the company's planned drilling,
operational risk, environmental risk, financial risk, geo-political
risk, commodity risk, currency risk and other statements that are
not historical facts as disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors"
and elsewhere in the corporation's periodic filings with securities
regulators in Canada and the United States. DATASOURCE: Ivanhoe
Mines Ltd. CONTACT: Investors: Bill Trenaman, (604) 688-5755.
Media: Bob Williamson, (604) 688-5755; To request a free copy of
this organization's annual report, please go to
http://www.newswire.ca/ and click on reports@cnw.
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