Oyu Tolgoi (OT) Copper-Gold Project Area Environmental Baseline Survey 2002 and EIA 2003-2006 for IMMI/ Ivanhoe Mines Inc.,Canada, 2002-2009
Oyu Tolgoi is one of biggest Copper and Gold Deposits (second) of the World has discovered in Hanbogd Soum, South Gobi, Aimag, Mongolia. Ecotrade Company have completed series of Environmental services and works with Environmental Approvals such as Environmental Baseline Survey in 2002, EIA for Mining and Processing 2003-2006, EIA-s for Diesel and Power Plant, Waste Water Treatment Plant, Toxic Chemicals and etc since 2006 to present.,
IMMI commenced its exploration program at Oyu Tolgoi in 2000 and the company had delineated mineral resources of approximately 26,000,000 ton copper and 800 ton gold by May 1, 2005. The Oyu Tolgoi deposit stretches over 6.5 km by length, and 1.2-2.1 km by its width. It consists of at least five orebodies. Exploration activities are still underway at the project as the resource is increasing, and the final estimation of the resource has not been confirmed.
The Oyu Tolgoi Project is located in Khanbogd Soum of Omnigovi Aimag in the South Gobi region of Mongolia, approximately 550 km south of Ulaanbaatar and 80 km north of the Chinese-Mongolian border (see Figure 1.1). The Oyu Tolgoi property is included in Mining License 6709A, which covers an area of 8,496 ha centered at latitude 43°00'45"N, longitude 106°51'15"E.
Figure 1.1 Project location
The project consists of open pit and underground mines, a processing plant, a single paddock mine tailings storage facility and on-site waste rock disposal. It is proposed that the Oyu Tolgoi Project use conventional crushing, grinding and flotation treatment processes to initially treat 70,000 tonnes per day (tpd) of ore, increasing to 85,000 tpd during the first five years of operation, for the production of a copper-gold concentrate suitable for sale to smelters. Further expansion to 140 000 tpd will be evaluated during the initial project phases and may be subject to further assessment where significant changes to environmental aspects occur.
The mineral resource estimates at Oyu Tolgoi were based on some 560,000 metres of drilling carried out to 13 April 2006. The two resource estimates include:
- Hugo North Inferred Resource Estimate prepared by Ivanhoe Mines under the supervision of AMEC Americas in February 2006.
- Southern Oyu Open Pit Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves Estimate prepared by GRD Minproc January 2006.
There are two distinct sources of ore as shown in Figure 1.2:
- the Southern Oyu deposits, consisting of the Southwest, South, Central, and Wedge zones
- the Hugo Dummett deposit, consisting of the Hugo North and Hugo South zones.
Figure 1.2 Profile of Ore Bodies
The Southern Oyu deposits are amenable to open pit mining, of which the gold-rich, near-surface Southwest zone will be the first mining development and will provide most of the plant feed for the first four years. The Hugo Dummett deposit is best suited to block-cave underground mining. Hugo North will be the first underground mine. The Hugo North ore is of higher value, and so underground production will be increased to displace production from the open pit as soon as possible. This mine case will result in a mine life of more than 40 years.
The detailed environmental impact studies for the project began in 2002. In the scope of this work, the studies focused on: determination of the natural settings, environmental conditions and combination of the eco-systems in the Oyu Tolgoi license area and the surrounding areas; assessment of the impacts that may be caused by the project for the environment and the eco-systems of the license area and the region, and the consequences thereof; determination of the methods to mitigate negative impacts; environmental protection, and detailed study of the monitoring indicators that shows changes that may occur in the environment. The DEIA report presents the results and findings of these studies.
