Robert Friedland's Ivanhoe Mines has three of the best undeveloped natural resource projects in the world spanning three commodities: PGMs, copper and zinc (Photo: Darren Calabrese/National Post)

Robert Friedland's Ivanhoe Mines has three of the best undeveloped natural resource projects in the world spanning three commodities: PGMs, copper and zinc (Photo: Darren Calabrese/National Post)

The Sydney Morning Herald (subscribe here) has a great summary article about a recent speech the one and only billionaire entrepreneur Robert Friedland gave to an undoubtedly packed audience in Melbourne.

We had the opportunity to watch Mr. Friedland in action at this year's Sprott Symposium in Vancouver and he lives up to his persona as being one of the best story tellers involved in the capital markets today.

Despite delays and other headaches, Friedland remains confident that Oyu Tolgoi, the enormous copper-gold project his Ivanhoe Mines discovered, will get itself sorted out.  The second-stage build out of the project has been delayed for over a year due to 'differences of opinions' regarding taxation and other matters between the project's majority owner Rio Tinto (through its ownership in Turquoise Hill Resources) and the Mongolian government.

"I want to express great confidence in the inevitability that all parties at Oyu Tolgoi will continue with the expansion, there is a virtual certainty that the mine will be expanded," he said.

"A truly world class mine is like a woman having a 100 kilogram baby; it is painful, it takes time. I believe this will ultimately become the world's best copper and gold mine."

"People have forgotten where things come from, some people don't understand you either grow it, or you mine it if you touch it or use it," Mr. Friedland said.

He elaborated to say that those who oppose mining projects on meritless grounds are 'twisted deviants' who are too far detached from the global supply chain.

Friedland, of course, has significant exposure to the metals space.  He owns 167 million  shares of Ivanhoe and 160 million shares of Turquoise Hill (TRQ:TSX).

Read: Robert Friedland talks in Melbourne about Mongolia's Oyu Tolgoi mine, supply chain scrutiny and the future demands for metals (The Sydney Morning Herald)