Caruso was the MD of Crosslands until last month, when owner Mitsubishi Corporation cut staff in light of the decision to scale back the Oakajee port and rail project.

Earlier in his career, he spent about five years in the Queensland coal industry working as a mining engineer, experience that should now come in handy.

Ascot was formerly Epic Resources – a gold, uranium and rare earth explorer – but changed its name and focus following the acquisition of coal licenses in Colombia.

While the company will focus on the Titiribi thermal coal project in Colombia, it retains the McPhees gold project in Western Australia and the Quartz Hill multi-commodity project in the Northern Territory.

Kopejtka was announced as the company’s new executive chairman last week.

Kopejtka’s last prominent role was as executive chairman of Murchison Metals – which formerly owned 50% of Crosslands.

He resigned as a director of Murchison last year when the Crosslands and Oakajee stakes were sold to Mitsubishi.

After gaining as much as A5c last week, Ascot shares were unchanged at 14c today.