A week after relations between Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX:IVN) and giant Rio Tinto plc (NYSE:RTP) darkened over a poison pill strategy, the Vancouver miner has made it clear that it has every intention to build Oyu Tolgoi.
Ivanhoe announced Monday it has appointed three more lending agencies to a group of five financial institutions that will arrange a debt package worth more than US$2 billion to fund the development of Oyu Tolgoi.
The financing package would cover nearly half of the massive copper-gold project’s US$4.6 billion price tag.
The new agencies include international banks BNP Paribas and Standard Chartered plc (LSE:STAN.L) and credit agency Export Development Canada.
The news comes after a May announcement that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corp. would also be part of the lending group.
Ivanhoe executive chairman Robert Friedland said the group’s participation in the project represented an “awareness of its game-changing significance to copper and gold markets.”
The financing is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011, but Ivanhoe did say Export Development Canada is considering providing up to US$500 million for the project.
A spokesman for the company said Monday that existing agreements with Rio Tinto would continue to finance a large portion of the project.
For more about the tumultuous relationship between Ivanhoe and Rio Tinto check out this week’s print edition of BIV.