Alexander Molyneux, President and
CEO of SouthGobi Resources Ltd., has announced that the company has awarded a
USD48-million contract to build a paved highway dedicated to the delivery of
export shipments from SouthGobi”s Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine to the Mongolia-China
border crossing at Shivee Khuren-Ceke. The contract was awarded to Leighton
Asia, a division of Australia-based contracting giant Leighton Group, in a
joint venture with Monnis International, a leading Mongolian resource,
construction and transportation conglomerate.

Work will include the design and
construction of the 45-kilometre highway linking the Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine
with Ceke, a major coal terminal on the China side of the border with rail
connections to key coal markets in China. The new coal-hauling highway will be
17 meters wide and will consist of four fully-paved lanes, with a one-meter central
median in order to provide capacity well in excess of 20 million tons of coal
per year. It will be constructed with a concession granted by the Mongolian
Government as per the country”s recently passed Concession Law. Upon
completion, the road will accommodate heavy axle loads of fully loaded coal
trucks and set new standards for haul road infrastructure in Mongolia.

“We are very pleased to work
with Leighton Asia and Monnis International on this significant infrastructure
project in southern Mongolia,” said Molyneux. “The new coal highway
will improve safety for coal transporters, will greatly reduce the
environmental impacts of the unpaved road – and will facilitate further
aggressive growth of our mining business.”

The new highway is scheduled to be completed
by the end of 2012.