Prime Minister G.Zandanshatar, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources G.Damdinnyam, and Director of "Erdenes Mongol" B.Davaadalai met with the leaders of the Copper Group of "Rio Tinto" company.

During the meeting, Prime Minister G.Zandanshatar said, "I have said before that the owner knows his business and the shore protects its water. You can't take the gold and throw it away. We don't like the answers, to be honest. The management fee was said to be 40%, but it has become 30%.

The loan interest rate is twice as high as what is being paid to us by global banking and financial institutions. It is wrong. One side benefits from the difference in loan interest rates, and the other side does not pay dividends. We believe that it is unbalanced and unfair. Mutual benefit is our demand. We must implement this demand of the parliament. The most important thing is that the Mongolian people and parliament are unhappy with the unfairness.

Why is it unfair? They are making a profit from the interest on loans that are being given.

The main problem is that we are creating debt. We own dividends for 20 or 30 years, and we cannot control this activity. We have no voting rights. I wonder why it is beneficial to own 34% of the board of directors. We asked in 2019 and now we are asking again. We are talking about the 34% issue. This has turned us into a high-interest loan mechanism. It does not even pay dividends. What good is this 34% to us, citizens and parliament are asking.

Royalties are a normal norm that any business pays. "Oyu Tolgoi" is paying four times less royalties than Erdenet, or  License fee for exploitation and exploration of minerals. 

What is the price of copper and gold in the old feasibility study now? It is not our fault that the funding has increased due to the change in the feasibility study of the underground mine. In fact, it is the fault of the party that was obligated under the Investment Agreement. Why should Mongolia bear all this blame? All this makes the Mongolian people and the Mongolian parliament feel cheated. If there are no tangible results at the work level, we do not know what decisions will be made about "Entree" and the deposits. I hope you all understand. In the context of changing world order, the business will continue to be real "We are concerned about the risk of this. Thank you."

At this time, the government announced that it reminded the Mongolian people that the majority of the benefits of the Oyu Tolgoi project should go to the Mongolian people.

Former Prime Minister Ch.Saikhanbileg said in an interview with NTV on Wednesday, "It is only in the Oyu Tolgoi underground mining development plan that the majority of the benefits of the project will go to the Mongolian side. This sentence is not found in any other agreement or document.

However, since L.Oyun-Erdene’s government has canceled the underground mining financing plan, we must urgently formalize this provision," he said.

From Rio Tinto, the meeting was attended by Katie Jackson, Director of the Copper Group, R.Amarjargal, Director of Rio Tinto Mongolia, L.Munkhsukh, CEO of Oyu Tolgoi, and other officials.

Published Date:2026-03-10