Last checked at 24 May 2010 07:00
ANNOUNCEMENT 24 MAY 2010
COAL MAKES KEY BOARD AND MANAGEMENT APPOINTMENTS IN LINE WITH RAPID GROWTH
HIGHLIGHTS
·; Appointment of John Wallington as Chief Executive Officer/ Executive Director, effective 15 June 2010
·; Incumbent Managing Director to move to Executive Deputy Chairman role
·; Several key management positions filled to strengthen operations team
Coal of Africa Limited ("CoAL" or "the Company"), the AIM/ASX/JSE listed coal mining and development company operating in South Africa (ticker: CZA), is pleased to announce that it has secured several key appointments in line with the recent rapid growth of the Company and to support its strategy and expanding production profile.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Effective 15 June 2010, CoAL is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr John Wallington as Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") and Executive Director to the Company.
Mr Wallington brings 30 years experience in the coal exploration and mining industry, including having held the position of CEO for the Anglo Coal Division ("Anglo Coal") of Anglo American plc, one of the world's largest mining and natural resource groups, between 2005 and 2008.
As CEO of Anglo Coal, Mr Wallington was responsible for the management of the Coal Division, which had a turnover of over US$3.5 billion per annum and employed over 10,000 people, including contractors. He joined Anglo American in 1981 and was CEO of the South African Region prior to his appointment as CEO of Anglo Coal globally.
Since leaving Anglo Coal in 2008, Mr Wallington has acted as a Non-Executive Director and/or acting Managing Director of two smaller ASX/JSE listed exploration and development companies. Mr Wallington will resign from his remaining directorship in due course.
Mr Wallington 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 Harvard Business School.
The key terms of Mr Wallington's appointment with CoAL appear in the Schedule below.
Disclosure of Directorships under Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules
There is no other information that is required to be disclosed with regards to Mr Wallington's appointment pursuant to Schedule 2 paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules, save as set out below:
Full Name: Mr John Nicholas Wallington
Age: 52 years
| Current Directorships | Past Directorships within last 5 years |
| Firestone Energy Limited | Anglo American plc |
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| Keaton Energy Holdings Limited |
The Board welcomes Mr Wallington and looks forward to his contribution.
CoAL further advises that, upon Mr Wallington's appointment becoming effective, the Company's incumbent Managing Director, Mr Simon Farrell, will move into the role of Executive Deputy Chairman.
Mr Farrell today commented: "We are very pleased John has joined us at such a crucial time in the Company's development. The Nucoal acquisition is now bedded down and performing to expectations and, after a challenging period at Mooiplaats getting through the lean coal section, we are now fully into bituminous thermal coal and progressing as planned up the production curve.
Development at our Vele Project is progressing well and production is planned to commence next quarter. At Makhado, we expect to lodge the New Order Mining Right ("NOMR") application during the next quarter and to commence development in the first half of 2011, assuming receipt of the NOMR and the South African Department of Mineral Resources approval for the Rio Tinto Farm Swap. Quite simply, we need someone of John's experience and skill set to oversee CoAL's next chapter as a multi asset coking and thermal coal producer. What is also pleasing is that John and our Chief Operating Officer, Riaan van der Merwe, worked together at Anglo Coal for many years. For myself, I am very excited about the development as I will now be able to focus on continuing the job of building CoAL into a world class, international coal company."
Mr Wallington's Appendix 3X "Director's Initial Interest Notice" will be provided upon his appointment becoming effective.
SENIOR MANAGEMENT APPOINTMENTS
The Company further advises that its senior management team has been strengthened with several new appointments. In early 2010, Mr Willie Hattingh was appointed to the position of General Manager - Commercial. In this newly created role, Mr Hattingh is responsible for sales and logistics. He joined CoAL from Xstrata plc, where he held the positions of Marketing Manager Atlantic Thermal Coal and Export Marketing Manager. In addition, Mr Hattingh was an Alternative Director on the Board of the Richards Bay Coal Terminal Company Limited.
Further, the Company has secured the services of Mr Eugene O'Brien as Executive - Project Development. In this role, Mr O'Brien will take responsibility for the progress and delivery of the Company's Makhado Project. He is an engineer with a strong project management background, having worked as Project Manager - Africa Region, AngloGold Ashanti Limited (2000-2001) before serving as Project Director for various Anglo Platinum Limited projects (2001-2004). During this time, he was responsible for projects with a combined value of ZAR7 billion, which he managed from conception through to implementation and into the production phase. Most recently, he was employed as a Project Director with Barrick Gold Corporation. Mr O'Brien joined CoAL on 1 April 2010.
Mr Mark Coetzee has also joined CoAL's operations team as the Vele Colliery General Manager. He is also a qualified engineer and has recently completed a stint in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ("DRC") for Jindal DRC/Jindal Minerals & Metals Congo/Kasai Sud Diamant. In the position of Chairman and Business Head, Mark reported to the Mineral Resources Executive at a corporate level and was involved in the estimation, assessment, evaluation and economic extraction of mineral reserves. He was responsible for overall conduct of JDRC and JMMA's affairs, including strategising all exploration and exploitation of various resources, such as diamonds, gold, coal, copper, cobalt, tin, power generation and uranium, as well as pursuing merger and acquisition opportunities to further growth in the DRC and other African countries. Mr Coetzee joined CoAL on 15 April 2010.
Lastly, on 1 April 2010, Mr Graham Gemmel was appointed to the role of Geologist - Mooiplaats. Mr Gemmel has over 20 years experience and has joined CoAL from Homeland Mining & Energy SA (Pty) Limited, where he held the position of Chief Geologist.
Yours sincerely
SIMON J FARRELL
Managing Director
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SCHEDULE
The key terms of Mr Wallington's appointment are:
·; 3 year term, commencing on 15 June 2010 and expiring on 14 June 2013, based in South Africa;
·; Annual gross base remuneration of £400,000, inclusive of superannuation;
·; At the completion of each 12 month period of service, up to a maximum of 75% of annual remuneration as a performance based bonus, at the discretion of the Board and subject to agreed key performance indicators;
·; Subject to shareholder approval, the following issues of the Company's shares, the final allocation of which will be calculated according to the conditions set out below:
o up to 250,000 shares following 12 months service;
o up to 500,000 shares following 24 months service;
o up to 500,000 shares following 36 months service.
The allocation of the above mentioned shares is subject to the following capital performance conditions:
o An international investment bank will be requested to provide a list of 6 peer group companies at the start of each 12 month service period; o The average share price growth over the ensuing 12 months for these peers will be calculated and used as the base measure to determine the CEO's share allocation; o The % allocation of CoAL shares to the CEO will be calculated using the CoAL share price weighted average for the month preceding the end of the 12 month period:
| Capital Growth (Share Price) as compared to average of 6 peer group companies | Share allocation |
| 0-5% higher than average | 20% |
| 5-10% higher | 40% |
| 10-15% higher | 60% |
| 15-20% higher | 80% |
| 20-25% higher | 90% |
| 25% or more | 100% |
·; The appointment may be terminated by either party on 3 months written notice, or earlier in certain circumstances usual to appointments of this nature.