Aspire
Mining 9ASX: AKM) has appointed experienced project manager James Benson to
oversee the Ovoot Coking Coal Project in Mongolia through construction of the
mine infrastructure as well as management of the Erdenet to Moron Rail line.
   
Benson, who
will become the project director, has over 30 years experience in
engineering, procurement, and construction management with a focus on providing
leadership and constructive solutions for large scale bulk commodity projects
in remote regions, including over 10 years in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and
Russia.

He has overseen multiple billion dollar construction projects whilst employed
with companies including Parsons Brinkerhoff, FERREXPO, and Bogatyr Access
Komir.

These include the development of an iron ore mine in Ukraine and a coal mine
and associated Russian rail infrastructure in Kazakhstan.

“The quality of the Ovoot Coking Coal Project has again been able to attract a
high calibre executive to the Aspire management team,” Aspire managing director
David Paull said.

“Jim’s experience base provides an ideal fit for the significant challenges
ahead in bringing the Ovoot Project into production.”

Ovoot Coking Coal Project

Aspire is planning to start Stage 1 production at the project in early 2016 at
an initial rate of 6 million tonnes per annum of high quality coking coal,
ramping up to 12 million tonnes per annum in 2018 under Stage 2.

This will deliver
a project with an internal rate of return of 43%, according to the recently
completed Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS), which was based on Probable Coal
Reserves of 178 million tonnes – the third largest coking coal deposit in Mongolia,
by reserves.

Significantly and as a pointer to the future, Aspire to date has only explored
20% of the Ovoot Basin.

The staged development will de-risk the production ramp up and enable
the first stage operational cashflows to underpin a future Rail Spur Line
connection from Ovoot to link up with the Multi-user rail line at Moron. The
Rail Spur Line from Ovoot to Moron will facilitate the targeted full scale 12
Mtpa coking coal operation.

This had Bell Potter issue the company with a buy recommendation and a 12 month
price of A$0.27 earlier this month, more than double the current trading price of
A$0.125.