New Board Appointments
Sydney, July 27, 2015 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Atrum Coal NL (
ASX:ATU) is pleased to welcome Bob Bell and John Wasik to the Board of Directors. Commenting on the appointment, Executive Chairman, James Chisholm said:
"Bob and John bring a wealth of experience in mine development and management, coal marketing and logistics, and low impact high-wall mining operations.
"Bob has significant experience in developing operations in Canada, having been Chief Commercial Officer, Coal of Teck Resources and Chief Executive Officer of Ram River Coal. He has longstanding relationships with steel mills and customers throughout the Americas and Asia as well as strong commercial and mine development experience.
"John has extensive experience in mine operations and highwall mining and has developed and managed more than 20Mtpa of production for Peabody. Like Bob, he also has many years of Board experience which will be utilised as Atrum transitions from explorer to developer."
Bob Bell
Bob Bell is a qualified Mining Engineer with more than 27 years' experience in the Canadian coal industry and international coal markets. He has executive management experience with a strong focus on coal marketing and rail, port and marine logistics. In addition, he brings experience in mine planning and operations, finance and treasury, technical marketing, capital projects oversight and business development. He has a well-established presence in the Canadian coal industry and has served as Chairman of the Coal Association of Canada. He also served two terms as Chair of Neptune Bulk Terminals (Canada) Ltd. He currently serves on the boards of the Western Canadian Shippers Coalition and the Western Canadian Coal Society. In 2007, Bob was appointed Chief Commercial Officer of the coal business unit of Canada's Teck Resources, the world's second largest exporter of coking coal and was responsible for all Teck's coal marketing, logistics and commercial operations. Bob was former CEO of Ram River Coal Corporation, a Canadian company with a metallurgical coal project in Alberta, and former President and Chief Operating Officer of Pine Valley Mining Corporation.
Bob has extensive experience in transportation including negotiation of major rail and port agreements, logistics and arbitration of commercial disputes, transportation strategy, marketing strategy development, major commercial agreement negotiations with steel mills and off-take partners and general corporate development.
Bob's education includes a degree in Mining Engineering from McGill University in Montreal, a Master's degree in Business Administration from Queen's University in Kingston Ontario and the Directors Education Program (ICD.D) from the Rotman School of Management/Institute of Corporate Directors.
John Wasik
John is currently a Non-Executive Director of Cobbora Holding Co. a permitted coal mine in NSW owned by the NSW State Government and a Non-Executive Director of Kuro Coal Ltd, a subsidiary of Atrum. John was former Non-Executive Director and Chairman of Ampcontrol Pty Ltd, a manufacturing and electrical services company in which Washington H Soul Pattinson holds a major stake. He is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and holds a BSc in Minerals Exploitation.
John has worked in the mining sector for 40 years. He was Group Executive for Peabody Energy Corporation's Southwest Operations in North America for five years overseeing more than 20Mtpa of coal production in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. This included establishing a highwall mining division within Peabody which operated in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Prior to this, John was General Manager of Peabody's 6Mtpa Ravensworth/Narama mines for seven years and previously held the position of Mine Manager at both Ravensworth and Warkwoth mines. He has a track record of developing major projects, from exploration of new resources to justification, development and operation of new mines and major mine expansions.
John will work with the other Non-Executive Directors to guide the Company as it moves from explorer to developer. In particular, John's experience complements that of Cameron Vorias in relation to highwall mining. Cameron introduced highwall mining into the German Creek mine in Central Queensland, with the aim of extracting non-diluted coal for the lowest price. Cameron developed the concept and implementation plan and managed the project which used a standard remote controlled continuous miner and Addcar system. Cameron also implemented and managed a highwall augering project at the Millennium mine in Central Queensland where the geological conditions did not support the use of a continuous miner and Addcar system. Both projects were very successful and maximised low cost recovery of coal.
Bob and John will join the Board as non-executive directors on the completion of the current capital raise.
Additional Appointments
The Company is in the process of appointing additional senior management personnel in Canada including the appointment of a CEO/MD to lead the next phase of the Company's growth and a VP External Relations, to manage Government, First Nations and local community relationships.
About Atrum Coal Limited
Atrum Coal Limited (ASX:ATU) is a metallurgical coal developer. The Company flagship asset is the 100%-owned Elan Hard Coking Coal Project in southern Alberta, Canada. Elan hosts large-scale, shallow, thick, hard coking coal (HCC) deposits with a current JORC Resource Estimate of 298 Mt (70 Mt Indicated and 228 Mt Inferred). Comprehensive quality testing of Elan South coal on samples from the 2018 exploration program, combined with review of substantial historical testwork data for the broader Elan Project, has confirmed Tier 1 HCC quality.
The initial focus for development is the Elan South area, which is located approximately 13 km from an existing rail line with significant excess capacity, providing direct rail access to export terminals in Vancouver and Prince Rupert. Elan South shares its southern boundary with Riversdale Resources Grassy Mountain Project, which is in the final permitting stage for a 4.5 Mtpa open-cut HCC operation. Around 30km to the west, Teck Resources operates five mines (the Elk Valley complex) producing approximately 25 Mtpa of premium HCC for the seaborne market.
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