Mongolia gives licences to Ivanhoe

Government officials in Mongolia have issued four 60-year mining licences to Ivanhoe Mines (IVN-T).

The licences, which are renewable for an additional 40 years, cover 238 sq. km, including the company’s Turquoise Hill copper-gold project in the Mongolia’s South Gobi region.

At Turquoise Hill, drilling over the past three years has defined 2.45 billion tonnes grading 0.61% copper and 0.14 gram gold per tonne, based on a cutoff grade of 0.3% copper-equivalent. An additional 509 million tonnes of indicated resources grade 0.4% copper and 0.59 gram gold.

Drilling near the largest of the Turquoise Hill deposits, Hugo Dummett, has cut a high-grade core up to 350 metres to the north and returned 244 metres grading 2.9% copper and 1.13 grams gold.

Ivanhoe owns Turquoise Hill outright, and holds or controls some 111,000 sq. km worth of exploration rights in central and southern Mongolia.