Oyu Tolgoi is expected to produce an estimated total of 78 million ounces of silver, or 2.4 million kilograms, during the projected 27-year mine life under the reserve case outlined in the June 2010 independent Integrated Development Plan (IDP-10) for Oyu Tolgoi.
The reserve case draws only from the Measured and Indicated resources of Oyu Tolgoi.
During the projected 59-year mine life under the IDP-10’s Life-of-Mine Sensitivity Case, total silver production was estimated to be 180 million ounces, or 5.5 million kilograms.
Part of the ongoing exploration program at Oyu Tolgoi is designed to upgrade inferred resources to higher classifications and resource definition at the project.
The copper concentrate produced and sold at Oyu Tolgoi will contain significant quantities of by-product gold and silver that will be recovered during the subsequent smelting and refining processes and sold separately.
The average annual production at Oyu Tolgoi during the first 10 years is projected to exceed 1.2 billion pounds (544,000 tonnes) of copper, 650,000 ounces of gold and three million ounces of silver.
