Rio Tinto finalized a new financial agreement with the Mongolian government for the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine. The deal reduces management fees paid to Rio Tinto by 50%.
It also cuts the interest rate on a multi-billion dollar government loan by 2.5 percentage points. Officials signed the agreement in Ulaanbaatar following months of political pressure over terms previously labeled unfair.
This settlement aims to de-risk the project during the expansion of underground operations. Oyu Tolgoi expects to reach an annual output of approximately 500,000 metric tons. This production level would make it one of the largest copper mines in the world.