Ivanhoe Mines Delivers Response and Initiates Counter-Claim in Arbitration Proceeding With Rio Tinto
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 10/26/10 -- Robert Friedland, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN)(NYSE: IVN)(NASDAQ: IVN), announced today that Ivanhoe Mines has delivered a statement of defence and initiated a counter-claim as part of an ongoing arbitration proceeding launched by Rio Tinto on July 9, 2010.
The statement of defence rejects Rio Tinto's claim that the shareholders' rights plan approved by Ivanhoe Mines' shareholders on May 7, 2010, breached Rio Tinto's contractual rights under its agreements with Ivanhoe Mines.
The counter-claim contends that Rio Tinto has breached its covenants in its private placement agreement, signed with Ivanhoe Mines in October 2006, not to engage in activities that could affect control of Ivanhoe Mines without Ivanhoe's permission.
An independent arbitrator has scheduled hearings of the claim and counter-claim between January 18 and February 5, 2011.
Mr. Friedland said that the arbitration proceeding should not have any negative impact on the rapid pace of full-scale construction now underway at Oyu Tolgoi to bring the mining complex into production ahead of schedule in 2012.
About Ivanhoe Mines (www.ivanhoemines.com)
Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN)(NYSE: IVN)(NASDAQ: IVN) is an international mining company with operations focused in the Asia Pacific region. Assets include the company's 66% interest in the world-scale, Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine development project in southern Mongolia; its 57% interest in Mongolian coal miner SouthGobi Resources (TSX: SGQ; HK: 1878); a 62% interest in Ivanhoe Australia (ASX: IVA), a copper-gold-uranium-molybdenum-rhenium exploration and development company; and a 50% interest in Altynalmas Gold Ltd., a private company developing the Kyzyl Gold Project in Kazakhstan.
Forward-looking statements
Certain statements made herein, including statements relating to matters that are not historical facts and statements of our beliefs, intentions and expectations about developments, results and events which will or may occur in the future, constitute 'forward-looking information' within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of the 'safe harbor' provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking information and statements are typically identified by words such as 'anticipate', 'could', 'should', 'expect', 'seek', 'may', 'intend', 'likely', 'plan', 'estimate', 'will', 'believe' and similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. These include, but are not limited to the possible additional future investments in Ivanhoe by Rio Tinto and other statements that are not historical facts.
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