Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. (TSX,NYSE:TRQ), the company that started in Vancouver and co-developed one of the richest copper-gold mines in the world, the Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia, will be delisted and now belongs to Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO).
Rio Tinto announced today the completion of a US$3.1 billion acquisition in which the company has acquired the 49% share of the company that it didn’t already own. Rio Tinto already had owned 50.8% of Turquoise Hill.
The transaction gives Rio Tinto a 66% ownership stake in the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia. The Government of Mongolia owns the remaining 34%.
“This acquisition further strengthens our copper portfolio, as part of our strategy to grow in materials the world needs for achieving net zero and delivering long-term value for our shareholders,” Rio Tinto copper chief executive Bold Baatar said in a news release.
“We now have a simpler and more efficient ownership and governance structure, with our partner the Government of Mongolia, as we proceed together towards sustainable production from the underground mine.”
Turquoise Hill was spun out of Vancouver-headquartered Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN), a company founded by American billionaire mine financier Robert Friedland, who is still Ivanhoe’s executive co-chairman.
Turquoise Hill’s sole project was the Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia, which was co-developed with Rio Tinto. The mine went into production in 2013.
Although it had been headquartered in Vancouver, Turquoise Hill more recently has listed its headquarters in Montreal, and had a market cap of $8.6 billion.
Ivanhoe acquired the Oyu Tolgoi project from BHP Billiton in 2002 for $5 million. It is now one of the largest and richest new copper-gold mines in the world, accounting for 3% of global copper production. In 2012, Ivanhoe announced a name change, with the new spin-out, Turquoise Hill, responsible for developing the Oyu Tolgoi along with Rio Tinto.
Ivanhoe Mines continued to operate as a separate company, and still does, with an operating mine and development projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
