Arrival at Ivanhoe Mines' Oyu Tolgoi Project, Mongolia   -   Top left: Aerial view of the main camp, office and core storage area (to the right of the camp),   Top right: With our chartered Cessna Grand Caravan,   Bottom: Grid drilling section of the Oyu Tolgoi deposit.

The group had departed their Ulaanbaatar Hotel at 6:00 am that morning and were driven to the airport where a charter aircraft awaited. They took off at 7:15 and flew south to Oyu Tolgoi at the opposite side of Mongolia to Erdenet. A change of scenery from the forested hills of the latter, near the Russian border, to the Gobi desert of the south, just 80 km from northern China. They landed at 9:25 am ready to start the visit after being shown, and settled into their gers, where they were to spend the night.

Photographs by Mike Porter