Canada-based Ivanhoe Mines has changed its name and will now be known as Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. The new name, which was approved at the company's annual meeting on June 28, 2012, had gone into effect.

Effective August 8, 2012, the mining firm's trading symbol likewise changes to "TRQ" on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ Stock Market.

The change in corporate name was part of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) that Ivanhoe Mines entered into with global mining giant Rio Tinto that was announced on April 18, 2012. The MOA was locked in a financing deal that will aid the $6.2 billion Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project in Mongolia through. Ivanhoe founder and CE Robert Friedland likewise had to step down as part of the financing deal.

Rio Tinto effectively gains control of the company.

The commercial production of the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project is expected to start by 2013.

"Changing our name to Turquoise Hill Resources marks another milestone in our corporate history. Our new name more closely aligns the company with our world-class Oyu Tolgoi project and will have added significance as we rapidly approach the start of production," Kay Priestly, Turquoise Hill Resources CEO, said in a statement.

The company assured investors the change in name will not affect existing Ivanhoe Mines stock certificates.

"Shareholders are not required to submit their current certificate for new Turquoise Hill Resources stock certificates," the company noted.

Turquoise Hill Resources, formerly Ivanhoe Mines, is an international mining company focused on copper, gold and coal mines in the Asia Pacific region. The company's primary operation is its 66 per cent interest in the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold-silver mine development in southern Mongolia, which is expected to begin commercial production in the first half of 2013.

Other assets include a 58 per cent interest in Mongolian coal miner SouthGobi Resources; a 59 per cent interest in copper-gold miner Ivanhoe Australia, which is also developing a molybdenum-rhenium mine; and a 50 per cent interest in Altynalmas Gold, a private company developing the Kyzyl Gold Project in Kazakhstan.