SouthGobi Resources Announces Resignation of Brett Salt as Non-Executive Director and His Appointment as Chief Commercial Officer

HONG KONG, CHINA--(Marketwired - Jul 31, 2013) -

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited and Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement.

SouthGobi Resources Ltd. (TSX:SGQ)(HKSE:1878), (the "Company" or "SouthGobi") today announces that effective August 1, 2013, Brett John Salt will resign as a non-executive director, a member of the Mergers and Acquisition Committee and a member of the Health, Environment, Safety and Social Responsibility Committee ("Resignation") due to his appointment as Chief Commercial Officer ("CCO"). Mr. Salt's appointment is effective August 1, 2013 and he will be based in Hong Kong.

Mr. Salt has confirmed that he has no disagreement with the board of directors (the "Board") of the Company and there is no matter relating to his Resignation that needs to be brought to the attention of the shareholders of the Company.

Mr. Salt, 38, joins SouthGobi from Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. ("Turquoise Hill") where he was Senior Vice President, Strategy and Development. Prior to this, Mr. Salt worked for Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Ltd. ("Rio Tinto") for 15 years in a variety of senior product group and corporate level commercial roles including General Manager Business Development for Rio Tinto Ltd. and Chief Financial Officer of the Rio Tinto Marine business.

Mr. Salt holds a Bachelor of Commerce - Economics and Commercial Law from the Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia. He has completed the Investment and Risk Management in Shipping program at the IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland and the Rio Tinto Business Leadership Development Program at Duke University. Mr. Salt is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Other than being a director of the Company between September 3, 2012 and July 31, 2013, Mr. Salt has not held any other directorships in publicly listed companies in the past three years. Mr. Salt owns no shares or options in the Company or in Turquoise Hill, the Company's majority shareholder. He owns 4,686 shares and no options in Rio Tinto, Turquoise Hill's majority shareholder.

Save as disclosed above, the new CCO does not have any interest in the shares of the Company within the meaning of Part XV of the Securities and Futures Ordinance.

There is no specific term or proposed length of services for Mr. Salt's appointment as CCO of the Company. Mr. Salt does not have any relationship with any other directors, senior management, substantial or controlling shareholders of the Company other than as disclosed above. Save as disclosed above, there is no other information relating to the appointment of Mr. Salt as CCO that is required to be disclosed pursuant to Rule 13.51(2)(h) to (v) of the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited nor any matters that need to be brought to the attention of the shareholders of the Company.

Hong Kong, July 31, 2013

As of the date of this announcement, the executive Director is Mr. Kenneth Ross Tromans, the non-executive Directors are Ms. Kay Priestly, Mr. Lindsay Dove, Mr. Sean Hinton, Mr. Brett Salt, and Mr. Kelly Sanders, and the independent non-executive Directors are Mr. Pierre Bruno Lebel, Mr. Andre Henry Deepwell, and Mr. William Gordon Lancaster.

* For identification purposes only

July 31, 2013

SouthGobi Resources announces resignation of Brett Salt as non-executive director and his appointment as Chief Commercial Officer

HONG KONG - SouthGobi Resources Ltd. (TSX:SGQ)(HKSE:1878) ("SouthGobi" or "Company") today announced that, effective August 1, 2013, Brett Salt will resign as a non-executive director, a member of the Mergers and Acquisition Committee and a member of the Health, Environment, Safety and Social Responsibility Committee due to his appointment as Chief Commercial Officer. Mr. Salt's appointment is effective August 1, 2013 and he will be based in Hong Kong.

Mr. Ross Tromans, President and CEO of SouthGobi said "I am pleased to announce the appointment of Brett Salt as SouthGobi's new Chief Commercial Officer and a member of the senior executive team. Brett joins SouthGobi from Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. ("Turquoise Hill") where he was Senior Vice President, Strategy and Development. Brett's role is responsible for strategy development, business development and overall sales and marketing for the Company. Brett's experience and background provide the ideal skill set to help realize the potential of the Company's assets going forward."

Prior to his role in Turquoise Hill, Mr. Salt, 38, worked for Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Ltd. ("Rio Tinto") for 15 years in a variety of senior product group and corporate level commercial roles including General Manager Business Development for Rio Tinto Ltd. and Chief Financial Officer of the Rio Tinto Marine business.

Mr. Salt holds a Bachelor of Commerce - Economics and Commercial Law from the Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia. He has completed the Investment and Risk Management in Shipping program at the IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland and the Rio Tinto Business Leadership Development Program at Duke University. Mr. Salt is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

About SouthGobi

SouthGobi is listed on the Toronto and Hong Kong stock exchanges, in which Turquoise Hill, also publicly listed in Toronto and New York, has a 58% shareholding. Turquoise Hill took management control of SouthGobi in September 2012 and made changes to the board and senior management. Rio Tinto has a majority shareholding in Turquoise Hill.

SouthGobi is focused on exploration and development of its metallurgical and thermal coal deposits in Mongolia's South Gobi Region. It has a 100% shareholding in SouthGobi Sands, the Mongolian registered company that holds the mining and exploration licences in Mongolia and operates the flagship Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine. Ovoot Tolgoi produces and sells coal to customers in China.