Former Idemitsu executive director Peter Westerhuis will assume the role of chief executive for Terra Energy and Guilford Mongolia. He will be joined by Julien Lawrence and Mark Sinton as technical chief operating officer and general manager, respectively.
Guildford said the appointments would strengthen its Mongolian subsidiaries’ executive management, as its South Gobi project nears first production and ambitious expansion plans.
The company cited Westerhuis’ experience developing the 9 million tonnes per annum Ensham open cut and underground mining complex as chief executive of Idemitsu Australia’s Ensham joint venture.
Lawrence was noted for development experience through Leighton Asia, including development management of the Khushuut coal project in western Mongolia. Sinton served as general manager of Africa-focused gold miner Perseus and project manager for Noble Group and Leighton Contractors Asia.
The nominations come as Guildford upgrades the JORC resource for its Clyde Park and Hughenden coal projects in the northern Galilee Basin following analysis of 15 additional holes between the two sites.
The company reports that Clyde Park has a maiden indicated coal resource of 50.7 million tonnes and an inferred resource upgraded to 677Mt. The Hughenden resource has been upgraded to 132.9Mt of indicated and 1076Mt of inferred coal.
Guildford says the projects have the scale and potential to support multiple open cut and underground mining operations producing substantial export, thermal coal tonnages.
It says South Gobi, near Mongolia’s southwestern border with China could produce 5Mtpa of coking coal.
