Turquoise Hill announces 2018 production and financial guidance

VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - December 04, 2017) - Turquoise Hill Resources (NYSE: TRQ) (TSX: TRQ) (NASDAQ: TRQ) today announced 2018 production and financial guidance.

Oyu Tolgoi is expected to produce 125,000 to 155,000 tonnes of copper and 240,000 to 280,000 ounces of gold in concentrates for 2018. Open-pit operations are expected to mine in Phase 6 in early 2018 and Phase 4 throughout the year. In addition, stockpiled ore will be processed during 2018. The increased gold production relative to the 2016 technical report is due to splitting Phase 4 into two parts (4A and 4B) and bringing production forward from future years.

Operating cash costs for 2018 are expected to be approximately $700 million. The reduction compared to expected 2017 operating cash costs reflects lower concentrator and logistics costs.

Capital expenditures for 2018 on a cash-basis are expected to be approximately $150 million for open-pit operations and $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion for underground development.

Open-pit capital is mainly comprised of deferred stripping, equipment purchases, tailings storage facility construction and maintenance componentization. The main drivers of the 2018 estimate increase compared to the forecast for 2017 are equipment purchases and maintenance componentization.

Underground development capital includes both expansion capital and VAT. Based on the 2016 Oyu Tolgoi Technical Report, lateral development is expected to advance approximately 10.0 kilometres during 2018. Turquoise Hill continues to expect the first draw bell in mid-2020 and sustainable first production in 2021.

Forward-looking statements
Forward-looking statements made herein, including statements relating to matters that are not historical facts and statements of the Company's 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 statements and information relate to future events or future performance, reflect current expectations or beliefs regarding future events and 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, statements respecting anticipated business activities, planned expenditures, corporate strategies, and other statements that are not historical facts.