Altona Energy suspends Westfield operations and appoints new chairman

(Sharecast News) - Altona Energy's shares dropped on Thursday after activities were temporarily halted at a project in Australia and the company's chairman was replaced.Survey and exploration activities at the Westfield Tenement were suspended as the coal mining company investigates opportunities to combine its licenced pyrolysis technology with its coal assets to potentially enhance their value as other deposits may be more suitable for combining with the technology.The London-listed company also reported that progress on its Spanish pyrolysis project has been "slower than expected".Meanwhile, Qinfu Zhang has been replaced as chairman by Timothy Jones, who is currently a director of AIM-listed Management Resources Solutions, which provides infrastructure and mining support services in Australia.While Zhang remains on the board as a non-executive director, Australian operations director Phillip Sutherland has tendered his resignation to take effect on 29 January, with the company now actively seeking a replacement.Nick Lyth, chief executive of Altona, said: "I'm very pleased to welcome Tim to the board. His public company experience will be of great value to Altona as we seek to exploit our new interest in pyrolysis and explore development opportunities for our coal assets. I would also like to thank Phil for his service to Altona since it listed."Altona's shares were down 4.65% at 102.50p at 1208 GMT.