Mongolia mine to begin shipments to China

A US$6.6-billion mine operated by Rio Tinto was set to begin shipments of copper concentrate to Chinese smelters on Tuesday after multiple delays, Bloomberg reported. Scheduled shipments for June 14 and June 21 were delayed by a government request to have Mongolian banks process sales revenue from the Oyu Tolgoi mine and to allow representatives of Mongolia, which owns 34% of Rio’s subsidiary that operates the mine, to see sales contracts. Mongolia’s mining minister said via Twitter on Tuesday that revenue would go through Mongolian accounts, there were no significant problems with sales contracts and that shipments would begin.