TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canada-based Ivanhoe Mines on Thursday changed its name to Turquoise Hill Resources, as part of a financing deal with Rio Tinto to see the $6.2-billion Oyu Tolgoi copper/gold project in Mongolia through to the start of commercial production by 2013.

"Changing our name to Turquoise Hill Resources marks another milestone in our corporate history. Our new name more closely aligns the company with our world-class Oyu Tolgoi project and will have added significance as we rapidly approach the start of production,” Turquoise Hill Resources CEO Kay Priestly said in a statement.

The financing deal saw Ivanhoe founder and CE Robert Friedland step down as part of a financing deal with Rio Tinto to see the project through to completion. The agreement also saw Rio Tinto gain control of the company.

The company's new trading symbol would be ‘TRQ’ and will become effective at the opening of trade on the TSX, the NYSE and the Nasdaq stock market on August 8. The change to Turquoise Hill Resources would not affect existing Ivanhoe Mines stock certificates.

Turquoise Hill Resources is an international mining company focused on copper, gold and coal mines in the Asia Pacific region. The company's main operation is its 66% interest in the Oyu Tolgoi copper/gold/silver mine development in southern Mongolia, which is expected to begin commercial production in the first half of 2013.

Its other assets include a 58% interest in Mongolian coal miner SouthGobi Resources, a 59% interest in copper/gold miner Ivanhoe Australia, which is also developing a molybdenum/rhenium mine and a 50% interest in Altynalmas Gold, a private company developing the Kyzyl gold project, in Kazakhstan.
 

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