Ivanhoe (IVN) Says 'Hi Ho Silver' at Oyu Tolgoi

While most investors know about the copper and gold reserves at Ivanhoe Mines' (NYSE:IVN) Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia, it extent of the silver reserves at the mine haven't been talked about much, until now.

According to Ivanhoe Chief Executive Robert Friedland, the project should produce an average of 3 million ounces of silver a year at the mine.

Friedland said, "The buoyant global silver market has fueled the interests of investors and has prompted us to more widely circulate the projections for silver production.

"Oyu Tolgoi will rank as a very substantial silver producer when commercial production begins in 2013."

Over the 27-year life of the mine, the miner said Oyu Tolgoi should produce about 78 million ounces of silver.

The company has said in the past that annual production of copper willl come in at 1.2 billion pounds, and gold at 650,000 ounces. Also being mined will be molybdenum.

Ivanhoe owns a 66 percent stake in the project, while the Mongolian government owns the rest. Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) has a 48.4 percent stake in Ivanhoe.