McCabe, who will start in the position on April 1, worked in a range of operational and leadership roles within Wesfarmers between 2008 and 2019, including as Wesfarmers Resources CEO of from August 2017 to December 2019 with responsibility for the Curragh and Bengalla mining operations.  

He took on the additional role of executive - Wesfarmers Industrials after the sale of the Curragh mine in August 2018, providing executive and strategic input to the sale of Wesfarmers' interest in the Bengalla joint venture, as well as growth and acquisition opportunities across Wesfarmers Industrials.

He has also been a director of a number of Wesfarmers companies over eight years, including the role of chairman of the Wesfarmers Curragh board.

Stanmore said McCabe led the operational turnaround of Wesfarmers Resources, overseeing a sustainable reduction in mine cash costs while increasing production, delivering $800 million in capital projects and significantly improving safety performance.

McCabe holds degrees in Engineering (Mining) from the University of South Australia and Sciences (Geoscience) from Queensland University of Technology, as well as a Graduate Certificate of Business Administration from QUT.

Stanmore chairman Stewart Butel said McCabe's leadership and operational experience would be used to drive the company's continued performance improvement and the next stage of the its expansion.

McCabe said Stanmore Coal had undergone an exciting transformation since restarting production in 2016.

"I am pleased to join the Stanmore team as we continue to focus on operating performance and finalise approvals for the development of Isaac Downs and our next phase of expansion," he said.