IVANHOE CORRECTS ERRORS IN SYDNEY NEWSPAPER STORY ON OYU TOLGOI

In a media advisory posted on its Web site on September 24, Ivanhoe Mines corrected “several serious errors of fact” in a story published in the business news section of The Sydney Morning Herald under the headline ‘Chinese funds to join Rio in Mongolian investment’. Calling the headline “completely fictitious”, the company said there is “no basis in fact to support” the claim that Chinese funds are joining the Oyu Tolgoi project – “and there is nothing in the story to support such a claim”.Saying that an Ivanhoe Mines news release issued the previous day was the basis for the story, the advisory asserted that “no decision has been made about what, if any, sovereign-wealth funds might be invited to participate with Ivanhoe Mines. Ivanhoe and Rio Tinto have said only that they will consider unsolicited expressions of interest that have been made. The story incorrectly stated that interested sovereign wealth funds were ‘mainly Chinese’.” The advisory also said the newspaper story was wrong in stating that Ivanhoe Mines owns only 66% of the Oyu Tolgoi Project. Right now Ivanhoe owns 100% of Oyu Tolgoi. Mongolia will acquire a 34% stake in the project only when the Investment Agreement is signed and when conditions attached to the agreement are fully satisfied. The report also “incorrectly stated that there is an October 27, 2009, deadline for Rio Tinto to complete its USD2.4-billion investment in Ivanhoe. The October 27 deadline applies only to Rio Tinto’s Tranche 2 investment of USD388 million – and Ivanhoe and Rio now have agreed to extend that deadline.”The advisory says the apparent suggestion that “Rio Tinto either has, or is about to have, a 43% interest in Ivanhoe” is not correct. “Rio Tinto currently holds a 9.9% stake in Ivanhoe. Paying the second tranche of the financing, which now is being deferred, would move Rio to just under 20%.” The Ivanhoe Mines news release is available on the company website.
Source:www.ivanhoe-mines.com