Aspire Mining’s Ovoot Coking Coal Project in Mongolia will be led by experienced project manager James Benson.
Benson will oversee the construction of the mine infrastructures as well as the management of the Erdenet to Moron Rail line, Proactive Investors reports.
Benson has 30 years of experience in engineering, procurement and construction management. He has provided leadership and constructive solutions for large-scale bulk commodity projects in remote regions, including more than 10 years in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia.
While employed with such companies as Parsons Brinkerhoff, FERREXPO, and Bogatyr Access Komir, Benson has overseen various billion dollar construction projects, including the development of an iron ore mine in Ukraine and a coal mine and associated Russian rail infrastructure in Kazakhstan, according to Proactive Investors.
Aspire managing director David Paull said that the plant has been attracting high caliber executives to the Aspire management team.
“Jim’s experience base provides an ideal fit for the significant challenges ahead in bringing the Ovoot Project into production,” Paull said, Proactive Investors reports.
Aspire is hoping to start Stage 1 production at the Ovoot Coking Coal plant in early 2016. By 2018, it hopes to increase its production of high quality coking coal from an initial rate of six million tons per annum to 12 million tons per annum.
A pre-feasibility stud based on probable coal reserves of 178 million tons predicts that the project will deliver an internal rate of return of 43 percent. To date, Aspire has only explored 20 percent of the Ovoot Basin, according to Proactive Investors.
The staged development will de-risk the production ramp up and allow the first stage operational cashflows to underpin a future rail spur line connection. The rail line will link up Ovoot with the multi-user rail line at Moron. This will facilitate the targeted full scale 12 Mtpa coking coal operation.