OYU TOLGOI STARTS CONSTRUCTION ON EDUCATIONAL COMPLEX TO HOUSE MONGOLIA’S LARGEST VOCATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMME

First vocational training complex of its kind to be built since 1974

Nalaikh District, Ulaanbaatar – Minister of Education Otgonbayar, Chairman Galsan Batsukh, and Cameron McRae, president and CEO of Oyu Tolgoi LLC, and numerous national and local officials today broke ground on a new vocational education complex in the Nalaikh district of Ulaanbaatar that will house Mongolia’s largest vocational training program. The complex is the first vocational education facility of its kind to be built in the country in more than 35 years. The training program, which is being developed in partnership with the Ministry of Education, will educate and train thousands of Mongolian students.

The Nalaikh complex is one of three vocational centers Oyu Tolgoi is developing across Mongolia and is part of the company’s commitment to developing, training and employing Mongolian nationals. Some of the first graduates of the training program were on hand to celebrate the opening of the new centre. To fully develop the training program, Oyu Tolgoi is investing 114 billion tugrugs – or approximately 41,000 tugrugs per Mongolian citizen – over a five year period from 2010 to 2015.

During the opening ceremony, Minister of Education Otgonbayar commented, “I am happy to be here today to start the fulfillment of Oyu Tolgoi’s commitment.  Our joint efforts will help to achieve goals toward supporting the Government’s policies of providing short-term, quality training to people and providing employment opportunities at large development projects. I believe the new school that we are breaking ground on today will become one of biggest intellectual centres of excellence in terms of construction and in the training of highly-skilled specialists.”

At the ceremony, Cameron McRae, president and CEO of Oyu Tolgoi LLC, spoke about the vocational training program being part of the company’s commitment to the long-term development of the Mongolian economy.

Mr. McRae said “We are proud to invest in this world-class vocational training program, which is the largest of its kind ever established in Mongolia. We are fully committed to developing, training and employing Mongolians and assisting the Government in addressing the skills shortage in the country. The educational centres we are building will help thousands of young Mongolians qualify for good jobs.

“Over a five-year period, the education program will train over 5,000 Mongolian students at centres across the country in 23 disciplines, such as electrical work, plumbing, mechanics and heavy equipment operators. This extensive training program will help us meet our long-term commitment of having a workforce where more than nine out of ten people are Mongolian.

“Mongolia has a very bright future and we are thrilled to help educate and train the next generation of the workforce who will take this great country forward.”

In addition to the construction of the educational buildings, the training program will include equipment and curriculum upgrades at existing centres in Erdenet, Ulaanbaatar, Darkhan and Choir. Oyu Tolgoi has also established a scholarship program for 200 students to study at Mongolian universities, institutes and vocational training colleges and for 30 students to study overseas in mining-related fields.

The vocational training program is part of an agreement reached in July 2010 with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor.