Oyu Tolgoi collaborated with 764 suppliers in the first three quarters of this year, 524 of which are national businesses that account for 76 per cent of the total operations procurement spend. Between 2010 and the third quarter of 2019, Oyu Tolgoi spent over US$3 billion on national procurement, of which US$523 million was spent on procurement from Umnugovi. We signed a MNT 2.7 billion contract to purchase 5,000 locally made standard leather safety boots from Khos-Az LLC over the next three years. Sixty-four new jobs were created with opening of two new factories in Manlai soum. The factories will supply concentrate bags and single-use coveralls to the mine.

Underground Development Update

Rope up is complete for both the service cage and the production hoists of Shaft 2. Other key infrastructure components completed during Q3 include the central heating plant expansion, the Shaft 2 jaw crusher system and the Shaft 2 surface discharge conveyor. Lateral underground development in Q3 has accelerated. In September, the team achieved a record 1,385 equivalent metres of lateral underground development. As previously announced, on July 15th 2019, improved rock mass information and geotechnical data modelling has confirmed that there are stability risks associated with components of the Feasibility Study 2016 mine design. To address these risks, a number of mine design options are under consideration to complete the project. In the interim period, underground development continues, and we look forward to providing the market with updates on the schedule and development capital spend as appropriate.

For more on performance scorecard, production report and data for third quarter of 2019, visit www.ot.mn