SouthGobi Energy Resources-With World-Class, Permian-Age Coal Resources Proximate to the Chinese Market-to Start Trading
Tuesday May 29, 8:02 am ET
Mongolian coal transaction closes
New Directors appointed
biz.yahoo.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - May 29, 2007) - Asia Gold announced today that a change of the company's name to SouthGobi Energy Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:SGQ - News) was unanimously approved by the company's shareholders who attended in person or by proxy the Annual General Meeting of the shareholders held on May 25, 2007. The new name more accurately reflects the company's strategic focus on integrated coal and energy development in southern Mongolia, near the border with China.
Effective at the opening on May 29, 2007, the company's common shares currently listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol ASG will begin trading under the new name, SouthGobi Energy Resources, and the new symbol, SGQ.
SouthGobi Energy Resources has acquired the Coal Division of Ivanhoe Mines by issuing 82,576,383 shares of SouthGobi Energy Resources, successfully completing the transaction that was approved by Asia Gold's shareholders in August 2006. With the acquisition, SouthGobi Energy Resources now controls 55 coal exploration licences covering more than 20,700 square kilometres in southern Mongolia. The company's coal portfolio includes the Ovoot Tolgoi (formerly Nariin Sukhait) mine development and five other exploration and development projects, Exploration work to date at Ovoot Tolgoi has discovered coal resources totalling approximately 150 million tonnes in the Measured and Indicated categories and an additional 29 million tonnes in the Inferred category.
Coal Resources Summary for Ovoot Tolgoi as of March, 2007
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Area ASTM Group In-Place Resources (Tonnes)
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Measured Indicated Inferred
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South-East Field hvB to hvA 49,752,000 15,987,000 6,502,000
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West Field mhB to hvA 55,144,000 28,698,000 22,601,000
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Total 149,580,000 29,103,000
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The resources estimate was independently prepared by Norwest Corporation of Salt Lake City, Utah in March, 2007. Full details of the parameters used to calculate the in-place coal resources and coal quality estimates are available in Ivanhoe Mines 2007 Annual Information Form and Form 40-F, available at www.ivanhoemines.com and www.sedar.com.
Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN - News; NYSE:NASDAQ - News) is SouthGobi Energy Resources' largest shareholder, currently owning approximately 90% of the issued and outstanding shares.
New Directors Appointed
SouthGobi Energy Resources also is pleased to announce the election of two new directors - Stuart (Tookie) Angus and Robert Hanson.
Tookie Angus is an independent business advisor to the mining industry. He was most recently Managing Director - Mergers & Acquisitions for Endeavour Financial. Prior to joining Endeavour Financial, he was a partner at the Canadian law firm Fasken Martineau DuMoulin and headed that firm's Global Mining Group. Mr. Angus has focused on significant international exploration, development and mining ventures, and all aspects of their structuring and finance, for more than 25 years.
Robert Hanson, a director of Ivanhoe Mines, is the Chairman of UK-based Hanson Capital Limited and the Hanson Transport Group Limited. Formerly an Associate Director of N.M Rothchild & Sons, Mr. Hanson also was a main board director of Hanson Plc, and of its former subsidiary, Peabody Coal, with a specific responsibility for mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Hanson's international experience in corporate finance and in the coal, construction, mining and building sectors will be an asset to the board of SouthGobi Energy Resources.
About SouthGobi Energy Resources
SouthGobi Energy Resources is focused on exploration and development of its Permian-age metallurgical and thermal coal deposits in Mongolia's South Gobi Region to supply a wide range of coal products and electricity to markets in Mongolia and China. The company is investigating the implementation of clean coal technologies in the development of a coal generating power plant to benefit all of its stakeholders. As the company increases its resource base, SouthGobi Energy Resources plans to pursue the potential application of Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) technology to convert a portion of its resources into low-sulphur diesel, gasoline and naphtha.
Ivanhoe Mines, the parent company of SouthGobi Energy Resources, announced a strategic partnership last October with Rio Tinto plc, based in London, England, and Melbourne, Australia, to develop Ivanhoe's world-class Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold deposit in southern Mongolia, 80 kilometres north of the Mongolia-China border.
Forward-Looking Statements: This document includes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the company's plans to develop and supply various coal products and electrical energy to markets in Mongolia and China, and other statements that are not historical facts. When used in this document, the words such as "could", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "potential", "should", and similar expressions are forward-looking statements. Although Ivanhoe Mines and SouthGobi Energy Resources both believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties and no assurance can be given that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Asia Gold management information circular for its May 25th Annual General Meeting and under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in Ivanhoe Mines' periodic filings with Canadian and US securities regulators.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy or this release.
Contact:
Steven Feldman
SouthGobi Energy Resources Ltd.
Investors
(604) 681-6799
Bob Williamson
SouthGobi Energy Resources Ltd.
Media
(604) 681-6799
Website: www.southgobi.com
Bill Trenaman
Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.
Investors
(604) 688-5755
Website: www.ivanhoemines.com
Source: SouthGobi Energy Resources Ltd., Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. |
