ULAN BATOR, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Canadian mining giant Turquoise Hill Resources has refused a request by the Mongolian government to renegotiate an agreement on the company's investment in a Mongolian copper-gold mine, local media reported Tuesday.
Turquoise Hill turned down the request together with Rio Tinto, the majority stake holder of the Canadian company. Kay Priestly, CEO of the company, said he hoped the Mongolian government could honor the "legally-binding document."
According to the agreement signed in October 2009, Turquoise Hill obtains 66 percent of the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine, one of the world's largest of its kind, and the Mongolian government owns the remaining 34 percent.
There has been widespread scepticism as to whether the Oyu Tolgoi investment deal is favorable for Mongolia.
In September 2011, a group of 20 lawmakers from the 76-seat Mongolian parliament demanded the government revise the mining deal with Turquoise Hill.
Turquoise Hill had invested nearly 6 billion U.S. dollars on the Oyu Tolgoi project and created thousands of jobs for Mongolia, so the investment agreement is mutually beneficial for both Mongolia and the investors, a press release from the website of the company said.
The Oyu Tolgoi mine contains one of the world's biggest copper-gold deposits. According to a preliminary exploration, the mine contains more than 31 million tons of copper, some 1,328 tons of gold and about 7,000 tons of silver.
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