The All Injury Frequency Rate personal safety measure was 0.25 per 200,000 hours worked in the third quarter, including operations and the underground project. Maintaining its focus on safety, Oyu Tolgoi invested in 174,179 hours of safety training across its workforce of over 11,000 employees and contractors over the period.

Oyu Tolgoi continued its world class environmental performance, achieving water use performance at 0.406 cubic metres of water per tonne of ore processed, and a recycling rate of 86.5 per cent – the best among its peers in the industry.

Over the quarter, Oyu Tolgoi continued its positive contribution to the Umnugobi region, and Mongolia overall, through tax and other payments, procurement activities and investment in sustainable development projects. National procurement spend reached US$234mn in the third quarter of 2017, tax payments US$120.5mn and, cumulative in-country spend between 2010, when major construction on the mine began, to the end of September 2017 crossed US$6.7bn.

Gobi Oyu Development Support Fund continued to support sustainable development projects in Umnugobi. An expansion of the Khanbogd Heating Plant commenced to further support improvements in facilities and infrastructure in the local community.

Q3’17 Production

During the third quarter, Oyu Tolgoi set three operational records for total material mined, ore treated and average daily concentrator throughput.

In Q3’17, material mined increased 9.0 per cent over Q2’17, and ore treated increased 10.1 per cent over Q2’17. During Q2’17, the concentrator underwent a scheduled maintenance shutdown. Average daily concentrator throughput for Q3’17 of 115,400 tonnes increased 8.9 per cent over Q2’17. Copper production in Q3’17 was essentially flat, compared to Q2’17, while Q3’17 gold production increased 29.2 per cent over Q2’17 due to higher head grades from the medium-grade stockpile and Phase 4A. Higher gold grades during Q3’17 resulted in a 26.1 per cent increase in gold sales compared to Q2’17.

Turquoise Hill expects Oyu Tolgoi to produce 130,000 to 160,000 tonnes of copper and 100,000 to 140,000 ounces of gold in concentrates for 2017. Open-pit operations are expected to mine in Phases 4 and 6 during the year. In addition, stockpiled ore will continue to be processed during 2017.