Source: The Sydney Morning Herald                 Date: 27 October, 2010

Shares in Aspire Mining Ltd rose 13.16 percent after an Ivanhoe Mines Group company took a substantial stake in the junior coal explorer. The Perth-based Aspire said on Monday the Ivanhoe-controlled SouthGobi Resources had taken a 19.9 per cent interest in it via a placement of 105.7 million shares, raising AUD20.1 million.

Aspire also said the companies, which were focused on Mongolia, had formed a strategic partnership to fast-track development of Aspire's wholly-owned Ovoot coking coal project in the country's north. Aspire is yet to secure offtake partners for the Ovoot project and says only 10 per cent of the area has been explored. Aspire chairman David McSweeney said the deal with SouthGobi Resources would speed up the company's transformation from a coal explorer to a coal mine developer.

SouthGobi president and chief executive Alexander Molyneux said Aspire was an exciting strategic partner, given its large volume of potentially high-quality coking coal in Mongolia. Mr. Molyneux said SouthGobi Resources would provide Aspire with in-country expertise. SouthGobi Resources, which is 57 percent held by Canada's Ivanhoe Mines Ltd, produces coal at its Ovoot Tolgoi mine in Mongolia's south.