SouthGobi Energy Resources and Glencore International AG Sign Marketing Agreement for SouthGobi's Mamahak Coal Project

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, May 19 (MARKET WIRE) --
Alexander Molyneux, President of SouthGobi Energy Resources Ltd. (TSX
VENTURE: SGQ), and Gene Wusaty, Chief Operating Officer, announced today
that an agreement has been signed with Glencore International AG to
provide SouthGobi with coking coal marketing expertise and river
barging/vessel loading logistical services for SouthGobi's Mamahak coal
project in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

"We have developed Mamahak to a point that we are now ready to introduce
our high-quality coking coal to the Asian markets," Mr. Wusaty said. "Our
agreement with Glencore is a major milestone in the development of this
project."

With the coal marketing agreement now in place, SouthGobi plans to
extract and ship an initial 30,000-tonne trial shipment prior to the end
of the second quarter of 2009 for delivery to various Asian customers for
testing. The coal will be trucked on a recently completed 34-kilometre
haul road to a new barge-loading facility on the Mahakam River.

Glencore International is one of the world's largest suppliers of a wide
range of commodities and raw materials to industrial consumers. Glencore,
through its subsidiaries, is a market leader in the marketing of coal to
the world's industrial consumers. The agreement with Glencore gives them
exclusive marketing involvement for the company's coking coal sales for a
two-year period which is subject to a review in 12 months.

SouthGobi, through its wholly owned subsidiary Pt. Multi Mamahak Batubara
(MMB), has commenced the development of surface coal deposits in four
concessions covering 22,968 hectares, at the Mamahak Project. SouthGobi
has an 85% working interest in the project. The company was authorized to
begin mining on the MCM concession under a location permit issued last
January.

Gene Wusaty, SouthGobi Energy's Chief Operating Officer, a qualified
person as defined by National Instrument (NI) 43-101, supervised the
preparation of the technical information in this release. A NI 43-101
technical report on the Mamahak coal project was filed on March 26, 2009,
and is available at www.sedar.com.

Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN)(NYSE: IVN)(NASDAQ: IVN) is SouthGobi Energy
Resources' largest shareholder, currently owning, directly and
indirectly, approximately 80% the issued and outstanding shares.

About SouthGobi Energy Resources

SouthGobi Energy Resources is focused on exploration and development of
its Permian-age metallurgical and thermal coal deposits in Mongolia's
South Gobi Region and its Eocene-age metallurgical and thermal coal
deposits in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The company's flag-ship coal
mine, Ovoot Tolgoi, is selling coal to customers in China. The company
plans to supply a wide range of coal products and electricity to markets
in Asia. The company also is investigating the implementation of
clean-coal technologies in the development of coal power-generating
capacity to benefit all of its stakeholders.

Forward-Looking Statements: This document includes forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to,
statements concerning the ongoing exploration and development of the
Mamahak Coal Project in Indonesia, expected product coal quality of the
trial shipment, plans to extract and ship a 30,000 tonne trial coal
shipment in the second quarter 2009, the company's future ability to
supply coal markets in Asia, and other statements that are not historical
facts. When used in this document, the words such as "could", "plan",
"estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "potential", "should", and similar
expressions are forward-looking statements. Although SouthGobi Energy
Resources believes that the expectations reflected in these
forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks
and uncertainties and no assurance can be given that actual results will
be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Important factors
that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking
statements are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in SouthGobi
Energy's Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and
Results of Operations for the year end Dec. 31, 2008, which is available
at www.sedar.com.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does
not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:
SouthGobi Energy Resources Ltd.
Steven Feldman
Investors
1 604 681-6799

SouthGobi Energy Resources Ltd.
Bob Williamson
Media
1 604 681-6799
www.southgobi.com

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