JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South African junior miner Coal of Africa Limited (CoAL) has appointed John Wallington as its CEO and as an executive director as from June 15.

Wallington had resigned as independent nonexecutive director of fellow junior coal-miner Keaton Energy to take up the position at CoAL.

He holds a BSc in Mining Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and has participated in executive programmes with both the London Business School and the Harvard Business School.                   

Wallington has more than 30 years experience in the coal exploration and mining industry and had been CEO of Anglo Coal, a division of Anglo American, between 2005 and 2008.

CoAL MD Simon Farrell, who would now become executive deputy chairperson of CoAL, noted that Wallington’s appointment came at a “crucial” time in the company’s development.

He said that the company’s Mooiplaats project was progressing as planned, while production at its Vele coking-coal project would start in the next quarter.

Further, the company planned to lodge an application for a new order mining right for its Makhado project during the next quarter, with development expected to start in the first half of next year.

Meanwhile, CoAL highlighted that it had also made a number of other senior management appointments, with Willie Hattingh having been appointed as commercial GM and Eugene O’Brien as executive of project development.

Mark Coetzee had also been appointed as GM of the Vele Colliery and Graham Gemmel as a geologist for the Mooiplaats project.

To subscribe to Mining Weekly's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.