Australia-based, Mongolia-focused coking coal explorer Aspire Mining Limited (Aspire) has announced that it has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the Mongolian subsidiary of rail giant Russian Railways to discuss extending the Trans-Mongolian Railway across northern Mongolia, to include Aspire's Ovoot coking coal project.
Aspire said that the memorandum of understanding will explore the development of a strategic partnership between the Mongolian subsidiary of Russian Railways and Northern Railways LLC (Northern Railways), Aspire's infrastructure subsidiary, to build, own and operate an extension of the existing Trans-Mongolian Railway at Erdenet through to Ovoot via the town of Moron. It also provides a framework to discuss amongst other things the application for a rail concession for the Erdenet-Moron-Ovoot rail line, investment, and network rail capacity and integration.