SouthGobi Resources Announces Formation of Strategic Advisory Board and Appointment of Abraham Jonker as Initial Member

SouthGobi Resources Ltd. (TSX:SGQ) is pleased to announce the establishment of a Strategic Advisory Board and the appointment of Mr. Abraham (Braam) Jonker, CPA, CA, CA (SA), ACA (ICAEW), ACMA (UK) as its initial member, with effect from September 16, 2016.
Mr. Jonker is a business executive resident in Vancouver, British Columbia, with more than 20 years of extensive management, accounting and corporate finance experience across five continents, principally in the mining industry. He currently serves as the lead independent director of Mandalay Resources Corporation, a TSX-listed Canadian public gold mining company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario and a non-executive director and chairman of the audit committee of each of Firestone Diamonds Plc, a London, England based public diamond mining company listed on AIM, and Golden Reign Resources Ltd., another Canadian public gold mining company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. Mr. Jonker was previously a director and president of EastCoal Inc. and Canada Coal Inc., two TSX Venture Exchange-listed Canadian coal mining companies headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia and, until its $3.3 billion takeover by Walter Energy Inc., an international coal company, the chief financial officer of Western Coal Corp., another Canadian coal mining company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia whose common shares were listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and AIM. He is a registered Chartered Accountant in British Columbia, England and Wales, as well as South Africa. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in the United Kingdom and holds a Master’s degree in South African and International Tax from the Rand Afrikaans University.
The purpose of the Strategic Advisory Board is to provide non-binding strategic guidance and advice to the Board of Directors of the Company in connection with the Company’s ongoing business activities and initiatives. The Strategic Advisory Board shall consist of one or more members as determined by the Board of Directors, which will seek to select individuals based on their special knowledge, expertise and experience with companies in the Company’s industry and/or area of operations who are capable of making a valuable contribution to the Company’s business. Members of the Strategic Advisory Board shall be independent from any affiliation, business relationship or transaction with the Company and its affiliates. In selecting members of the Strategic Advisory Board, preference will be given to individuals whose knowledge, expertise and experience has been gained as directors or officers of companies whose shares are listed on a major stock exchange. It will have no authority to make business decisions for the Company. The Strategic Advisory Board will have no governance role in respect of the Company and none of its members are to be considered to be directors or officers of the Company or to have any of the responsibilities of a director or officer.
“We are honoured to have Mr. Jonker join us as the initial member of our Strategic Advisory Board,” said Mr. Ningqiao Li, Chairman of the Board of SouthGobi Resources. “Mr. Jonker is a highly experienced business executive with significant Canadian public mining company board and management expertise, particularly in the coal sector. We look forward to having the benefit of his advice as we move ahead with the ongoing development and execution of our strategic business plan. His extensive Canadian public company experience will also be of great assistance to us in our continued development of a governance framework that enables sustainable growth of the Company.”
About SouthGobi
SouthGobi, listed on the Toronto and Hong Kong stock exchanges, owns and operates its flagship Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine in Mongolia. It also holds the mining and exploration licences of its other metallurgical and thermal coal deposits in South Gobi Region of Mongolia. SouthGobi produces and sells coal to customers in China.