Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd (TRQ) on Thursday announced its financial results and operational review for the period ended March 31, 2020. According to the report, Oyu Tolgoi (OT)’s revenue decreased 62.9 percent to USD 130.7 million year-on-year. This is primarily due to both a 78.2 percent drop in gold production and a 23.1 percent fall in copper production. Even though the pandemic has led to unprecedented challenges, OT open pit has continued to operate without interruptions and the underground development has been progressed. The average price of copper downturned by 9.1 percent, mainly influenced by the impact of the pandemic on global copper demand. Additionally, OT’s concentrate sales fell in the first two months of this year due to the COVID-19, but intensified in March, exceeding its quarterly plan. The company reported a net profit of USD 105.2 million a year ago, declined to USD 19 million this year. At the end of Q1’20, OT’s workforce including employees and contractors totaled approximately 13,600, of which 94 percent were Mongolians. Oyu Tolgoi is expected to produce 140,000 to 170,000 tons of copper and 120,000 to 150,000 ounces of gold in concentrates in 2020 from both the open pit and the beginning of the underground development material being processed. The production in 2021 is predicted to increase of 170,000 to 200,000 tons of copper, and 450,000 to 500,000 ounces of gold, as a transition to the higher grade ore in the lower benches of the pit and continue to raise the amount of underground development material processed. Previously, Oyu Tolgoi LLC had stated that the expansion and excavation of the underground mine could be delayed by 30 percent due to COVID-19, restricting the access of foreign experts to the mine. This affects the operations of underground mining subcontractors. For example, GIP, which is involved in the construction of Shafts III and IV, has announced that it may lay off 400-500 employees.

Published Date:2020-05-15