A dispute between Rio Tinto and Canada's Ivanhoe Mines over a Mongolian copper and gold mine escalated yesterday when the Vancouver-based company suggested it was opening the door to “third-party strategic investors”.
Ivanhoe said its board voted on Tuesday to terminate a clause in a 2006 pact between the two companies that prevents Ivanhoe from issuing more than five per cent of its shares to third parties.
The move means Rio, the financier of the Mongolian mine at Oyu Tolgoi near the Chinese border, faces the threat of dilution of its holding in Ivanhoe or the possibility that another miner may gain a foothold on the project. Rio said it was “very confident of its existing rights under the private placement agreement with Ivanhoe [from 2006]”. However, on Monday, the Anglo-Australian miner launched arbitration against Ivanhoe over an earlier complaint.