Slaughter informed the board that he would not be standing for re-election at the company's annual general meeting on Monday, November 25.

The Mastermyne board has started searching for another non-executive director at a time when the mine contractor sector is under extreme pressure as mining companies take operations in-house.

Slaughter held the chairman's role since the company's Australian Securities Exchange listing in 2010, overseeing its transition from a private company to a listed entity followed by growth during the subsequent years.

“He leaves the company well placed to manage the current conditions in the industry and to benefit from the return to growth,” Mastermyne managing director Tony Caruso said.

“Peter has led our journey from a private to public business and his guidance and support, particularly through the early years of listing, have been integral to our success.

“I would like to publicly thank Peter for the significant contribution he has made to Mastermyne and to me personally and we wish him all the best in the future”

Slaughter said that since his appointment just prior to the company’s listing in 2010, he had found the team culture at Mastermyne to be one of the best he had encountered as a director and manager in over 40 years in the mining sector.

Mastermyne recently secured six new contracts and reported that its tendering pipeline remained above $900 million, with $378 million in active tenders. Its annual revenue for FY13 was 8.5% lower.

While Mastermyne’s net profit after-tax result of $11.5 million for the year was down 27%, the company was still securing new work and managing its existing contracts profitably, Caruso said.

“Delivering this result in a challenging market was a strong reflection of how well the company is positioned in the underground coal sector,” he said.

“Our leverage to production versus construction and maintenance has seen the company deliver a result that has only been surpassed by the record high result of FY2012.

“FY2014 will continue to provide a challenging backdrop for mining services companies, however Mastermyne is well-positioned with a strong order book totalling $236 million – of which $112 million will be delivered in FY2014 – traditional uncontracted recurring work of $30 million per year and approximately $20 million of contract renewals contributing to FY2014.”