{"id":1150517,"date":"2019-11-19T07:18:35","date_gmt":"2019-11-19T13:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1007136"},"modified":"2019-11-19T07:18:35","modified_gmt":"2019-11-19T13:18:35","slug":"rio-tinto-faces-legal-setback-at-oyu-tolgoi-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1150517","title":{"rendered":"Rio Tinto faces legal setback at Oyu Tolgoi mine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The world\u2019s second largest miner Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO) is facing a fresh setback at its massive Oyu Tolgoi underground copper project\u00a0in Mongolia as an administrative court has <a href=\"https:\/\/otp.tools.investis.com\/clients\/uk\/rio_tinto1\/rns\/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=507&amp;newsid=1345770\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">backed a non-governmental organization\u2019s claims<\/a> that the government didn\u2019t follow due process on the agreement that underpins the asset\u2019s development.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Local Darkhan Mongol Nogoon Negdel group, which advocates for ecological balance and economic independence, is disputing the agreement signed in 2015, as well as the authority of Mongolian officials involved in the negotiations leading to the deal.<\/p>\n<p>The court&#8217;s formal written ruling<br \/>\nis expected to be released in the coming weeks, Rio said.<\/p>\n<p>The looming lawsuit is one of many<br \/>\nrecent challenges Rio Tinto has faced in Mongolia in the past two years.<\/p>\n<p>In January 2018, the country\u2019s<br \/>\ngovernment&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mining.com\/rios-oyu-tolgoi-mine-mongolia-hit-155-million-tax-bill\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">served Oyu Tolgoi with a bill for $155 million<\/a>&nbsp;in back<br \/>\ntaxes \u2014&nbsp; the mine\u2019s second tax dispute since 2014. The company&nbsp;said<br \/>\nat the time the charge related to an audit on taxes imposed and paid by the<br \/>\nmine operator between 2013 and 2015. <\/p>\n<p>Shortly after, the southern Gobi<br \/>\nDesert-based mine&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mining.com\/force-majeure-oyu-tolgoi-mine-due-border-protests\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">had to declare force majeure<\/a>&nbsp;after protests by Chinese<br \/>\ncoal haulers disrupted deliveries near the border.<\/p>\n<p>The situation prompted Rio\u2019s chief<br \/>\nexecutive Jean-Sebastien Jacques to travel visit Prime Minister Ukhnaagiin<br \/>\nKhurelsuk to discuss how to build \u201cwin-win\u201d partnerships. The trip was followed<br \/>\nby a company\u2019s announcement that it&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mining.com\/rio-tinto-bets-big-mongolia-opens-local-office\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">was opening a new office in the country<\/a>, focused on<br \/>\nexploration and local links.<\/p>\n<p>Rio\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/rio-tinto-faces-1-9bn-cost-blowout-further-delays-at-oyu-tolgoi-copper-gold-mine\/6263\/\" >warned in July<\/a>\u00a0this year that an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/rio-tinto-goes-ahead-with-5-3-billion-expansion-of-oyu-tolgoi\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"under execution underground expansion (opens in a new tab)\">under execution underground expansion<\/a> of the mine would take 16-30 months\u00a0longer than expected. It also warned the project would cost as much as an additional $1.9 billion to the projected $5.3 billion investment, due mainly to a heightened risk of rockfalls.<\/p>\n<p>Oyu Tolgoi\u00a0was discovered in 2001 and Rio gained control of it in 2012.\u00a0The ongoing expansion the mine is expected to lift production from 125\u2013150kt this year to 560kt at full tilt from 2025, making it the biggest new copper mine to come on stream in several years.<\/p>\n<p><em>More to come&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Administrative court has upheld claims that authorities didn&rsquo;t follow due process on the agreement that underpins the asset&rsquo;s development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2849,949,369,4,2640],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150517"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1150517"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1150568,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150517\/revisions\/1150568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1150517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1150517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1150517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}