Sep 23 2014
Entrée Gold Inc. ("Entrée" or the "Company") reports that Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. ("Turquoise Hill") announced today that the 2014 Oyu Tolgoi Feasibility Study ("2014FS") has been finalized and presented to the board of directors of Oyu Tolgoi LLC ("OTLLC"). The 2014FS updates the Reserve Case from the March 25, 2013 Oyu Tolgoi Technical Report.
The Reserve Case includes mineral reserves from the Southern Oyu Tolgoi open pit and the Hugo North Lift 1 block cave, including Lift 1 of the Entrée-OTLLC joint venture's Hugo North Extension deposit. The Hugo North Extension deposit contains some of the highest grade mineralization found to date along the Oyu Tolgoi mineralized trend, and Lift 1 of the Hugo North Extension deposit will form part of the initial phase of underground development. Under the joint venture, Entrée has a 20% carried interest in the Hugo North Extension deposit and the Heruga deposit.
Of significance to Entrée, the 2014 FS also includes a Life of Mine ("LOM") Case, which reflects the flexibility that exists with respect to later phases of underground development, including Lift 2 of the Entrée-OTLLC joint venture's Hugo North Extension deposit, and the much larger Heruga deposit. This represents the first public disclosure of an LOM production case since the Oyu Tolgoi Integrated Development Plan was released in June, 2010. The later phases will require separate development decisions in the future, based on then prevailing conditions and the development experience obtained from developing and operating the initial phases of the Oyu Tolgoi project.
The release of the 2014FS is an important step to restarting underground development at Oyu Tolgoi, which has been halted since August 2013 pending resolution of several issues with the Government of Mongolia. The 2014FS requires approval of OTLLC shareholders and the Mongolian Minerals Council. In addition, resolution of OTLLC shareholder issues, agreement of a comprehensive funding plan including project finance and receipt of all necessary permits is required before advancement of the underground development can begin.
Greg Crowe, President and CEO of Entrée, stated: "The completion and release of the Oyu Tolgoi feasibility study is a significant step towards restarting underground development and to realizing the full potential of this world class project. All stakeholders in the Oyu Tolgoi project, including Entrée, are continuing to work collaboratively to address their respective concerns. We remain confident in the ability of the parties to resolve outstanding issues so that underground development can proceed."
Entrée will further report on data and impacts specific to the Entrée - OTLLC joint venture once the 2014FS is received and has been reviewed in detail.
QUALIFIED PERSON
Robert Cann, P.Geo., Entrée's Vice-President, Exploration, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has approved the technical information in this release.
Source: http://www.entreegold.com/