Turquoise Hill seeks interim order in funding spat with Rio for Mongolia mine

Jan 28 (Reuters) - Canada's Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd said on Thursday it has sought an interim order in its arbitration against Rio Tinto , saying the majority shareholder's actions limit Turquoise's funding options for the Oyu Tolgoi project.

Oyu Tolgoi is one of the world's largest-known copper and gold deposits, located in the South Gobi region of Mongolia, in which the Mongolian government holds a 34% stake.

Tensions between mine operator Rio and Turquoise Hill's management and minority shareholders have spilled into the open in recent months. Rio owns 51% of Turquoise, which in turn owns 66% of the mine.

Turquoise Hill in November launched arbitration proceedings against Rio, saying the miner's approach to funding the expansion is "incompatible" with its own.

Rio Tinto in 2019 announced a 30-month delay to the Oyu project to expand the mine underground and a cost overrun due to difficult geology. Last month, the company confirmed that the expansion at the mine would cost $6.75 billion, about $1.4 billion higher than its estimate in 2016.

Earlier in the month the Canadian miner said that Mongolia's government is considering terminating the companies' underground expansion of their Oyu Tolgoi project due to rising development costs. (Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)