John Macken, President and CEO of Ivanhoe Mines, today welcomed the decision by Mongolia’s national Parliament, the State Great Khural, to establish a deadline for completion of a draft Investment Agreement for Ivanhoe’s Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project.

A total of 42 of 50 members of Parliament – 84% of those present, representing both political parties in Mongolia’s joint government – has voted to adopt a resolution that authorises the Mongolian Government, led by Prime Minister Sanjaa Bayar, to negotiate a draft Investment Agreement for Oyu Tolgoi and present it to Parliament before February 1, 2009.

The parliamentary resolution proposes that the government seek assistance from internationally recognised experts in concluding the agreement. Provisions of Mongolia’s existing 2006 and 1997 minerals laws also will help to shape negotiations between the government and the project’s investors, Ivanhoe Mines and its strategic partner, Rio Tinto.