VANCOUVER – Turquoise Hill Resources (TSX:TRQ) has lined up US$4.4 billion of financing from Canada and several other countries to fund the restart of a major copper mining project in Mongolia.

Financial backing for the Oyu Tolgoi underground project will come from a syndicate that includes Export Development Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSX:CM).

Other participants include government credit agencies from the United States, Australia and Europe and 14 other private-sector commercial banks from Europe, Japan and Australia.

The financing agreement sets the stage for Vancouver-based Turquoise Hill, the Mongolian government and Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto to restart work on the underground portion of Oyu Tolgoi.

Turquoise Hill has a 66 per cent interest in Oyu Tolgoi, in partnership with the Mongolian government and with support from Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE:RIO), which is the largest shareholder in the TSX-listed mining company.

It says the financial syndicate has also agreed that Oyu Tolgoi — which is mining one of the world’s largest copper deposits —has total debt capacity of US$6.0 billion, providing the option for an additional US$1.6 billion of financing in the future.