“Yes,” Mongolian Prime Minister Chimed Saikhanbileg reportedly said on March 4 in a closed-door question-and-answer session at the American Chamber of Commerce in Mongolia, market intelligence analyst Badral Munkhdul, founder and CEO of Cover Mongolia, told Geopolitical Monitor on March 5.

The two parties have been locked in a stalemate for months now, with the Mongolian government insisting that Rio Tinto owes $30 million in taxes, while the mining firm has been unhappy with Mongolian management of the $5.4 billion mining project, claiming that costs have ballooned unnecessarily.

Rio Tinto halted work on the project in July 2014.

In mid-February, the prime minister put forth legislation in Mongolia’s legislature to put an end to the dispute and work with the company to resolve the issue by the end of 2015. The government holds a 34% stake in the mining operation, while Turquoise Hill Resources, which is majority-owned by Rio Tinto, holds the remainder of the stake.

However, mining analysts and those who have followed Mongolia’s troubles with foreign investors see no real movement towards working with Rio Tinto, viewing this latest effort – well-intentioned as it may sound – as simply putting off negotiations until a later time.