Shareholders of Ivanhoe Mines approved the change of the company’s name to Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. at the company’s annual meeting on June 29, 2012, following through on an announcement made May 15. Turquoise Hill is the English translation of the name of the company’s Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold-silver project in the South Gobi region of Mongolia.
The Turquoise Hill Resources name became effective during the last week of July. Turquoise Hill’s new trading symbol on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ Stock Market is TRQ and is expected to take effect on or about August 6, 2012.
Also at the annual meeting, Warren Goodman and Russel Robertson were appointed directors of the company, bringing its number of directors to 11. Goodman has served as Rio Tinto’s General Counsel, Corporate-Europe and Business Development since April 2012. Robertson is executive vice president of business integration at BMO Financial Group and vice chair at BMO Financial Corp. Current planning calls for two additional directors to be appointed in the near future.
“Progress at Oyu Tolgoi continues at an impressive pace, with phase-one construction reaching 90% completion in late June,” said Ivanhoe CEO Kay Priestly. “We are counting down to start up at Oyu Tolgoi. First production is expected in the second half of 2012, and commercial production should begin in the first half of 2013. Discussions between the governments of Mongolia and China on the power purchase agreement are ongoing, and the infrastructure necessary to import power from China should be completed by July 2012.
“We are executing the various elements of the comprehensive financing plan agreed to with Rio Tinto in April 2012. The overall package is expected to cover Ivanhoe’s total funding needs to complete the development of phases one and two of Oyu Tolgoi. Additionally, the strategic review of Ivanhoe’s other assets is ongoing,” said Priestly.
