The Mongolian government appears ready to move ahead in finalizing an agreement to mine the vast Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold site.

During a Wednesday newspaper interview, Sedbazar Otgonbat, a ministry of industry and trade adviser, said the Mongolian Parliament will seek to finalize an agreement this spring.

Through numerous Mongolian governments, Rio Tinto Group and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd, holders of the rights to mine Oyu Tolgoi, have reached agreements only to have these agreements left unratified by Parliament.

Past Oyu Tolgoi agreements became controversial as Parliamentarians criticized the various governments for not receiving larger profits from the Oyu Tolgoi mining.

The 2007 agreement, which took five years to negotiate, called for the Mongolian government to receive an equity stake and tax revenues equal to 55 percent of the project, according to Tom Albanese, Rio Tinto chief executive officer.

Explorations at the Oyu Tolgoi site, about 80 km north of Mongolia`s border with China, shows some of the greatest mineral wealth of any mine in the world. Estimates have shown 71,000 million pounds of copper and 31.3 million ounces of gold, to be extracted.

However, delays in past efforts to reach an agreement have caused Ivanhoe and Rio Tinto officials to warn they would seek opportunities in other countries if Mongolia could not, at last, approve an agreement on mining Oyu Tolgoi.

mongolia-web.com

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