Friedland kills rumour he aims to sell his stake in Ivanhoe Mines

Robert Friedland has rejected rumours that he wants to sell his 23% stake in Mongolian miner Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Friedland, right, was shopping his shares, which are valued at about $1.7-billion.

There was expected to be interest from many buyers, including state-owned Asian firms and sovereign wealth funds. But Ivanhoe issued a statement saying the report is simply not true. "I am surprised that the Dow Jones organization would publish an imaginary story using only anonymous sources and making no effort whatsoever to contact me to establish whether or not the story was true. This story is false," Mr. Friedland said. Last week, Ivanhoe hired advisors to study options for the company, as it needs to raise an estimated US$4-billion to develop its Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia.

Source:CanWest News Service