TRQ revised the forecast of Oyu Tolgoi production for the whole year due to the continuous impact of the epidemic, etc.

Oyu Tolgoi operations have been affected by COVID-19 and sidewall failures, sparking concerns about underground expansion and fragile relationships between mine owners.

Steve Tibbott (Steve Thibault), interim chief executive of TRQ, said recently that Oyu Tolgoi's "exceptionally strong first quarter", coupled with rising copper and gold prices, led to a 303 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue to $526.5 million.

Total maintenance costs also fell due to increased gold income and increased copper production.

"however, as we have previously warned and can now confirm, the rupture of the mine wall in the fourth quarter of 2020, coupled with the cumulative impact of COVID mitigation measures, led to a reduction in gold production targets in 2021, from the previous production forecast of 500000-550000 ounces to 400000-480000 ounces, while the copper guidance range has been reduced from 160000-180000 tons to 150000-180000 tons."

"the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in Mongolia has led to more preventive measures, and we expect COVID-19 to continue to affect opencast mining and underground development until the second quarter, before vaccination campaigns are launched in Mongolia and Oyu Tolgoi."

The company said that despite the recent rapid development of the COVID-19 epidemic and periodic suspension of construction work, the technical standard was still supporting excavation in the middle of the year as planned, but the technical standard was "under pressure" due to the rapid development of the pandemic.

The cuts are still awaiting key government regulatory and legislative approval.

TRQ said that any significant delay in cutting drilling would have a significant negative impact on the schedule, timing and volume of underground capital expenditures, and would have a significant adverse impact on the timing of achieving the first sustainable production, so expected cash flow from Oyu Tolgoi underground projects would increase the incremental funding requirements of Turquoise Hill.

According to current estimates, the basic incremental funding requirements for an over-budgeted $6.75 billion underground expansion are still $2.3 billion.

"turquoise Mountain and Rio Tinto discussed the way forward in Ulaanbaatar in March and April 2021, respectively, to resolve the unresolved issues of the Mongolian government regarding the Oyu Tolgoi underground development project, including those related to Congressional Resolution 92," TRQ said.

TRQ is expected to resume discussions in June 2021 after Mongolia's presidential election.

Oyu Tolgoi is also working with the government to ensure long-term power supply after failing to reach the key milestones set out in the revised power supply agreement in March.

The government, which owns 34 per cent of the company, also threatened earlier this month that the company's tax requirements would not stand if Oyu Tolgoi's 2009 investment agreement was not resolved through international arbitration.