The organisational restructuring establishes five executive general managers, a new chief financial officer and a general counsel, all of whom will report to chief executive and managing director Tony Haggarty.
“This organisational structure meets the needs of our existing business, and more importantly meets the needs of the much larger and complex business we are becoming,” Haggarty said.
Haggarty said that as the company had grown, additional management was necessary to support more complex operational endeavours and an expanding team with expanding projects.
“When Whitehaven was formed 12 years ago, we had just 20 employees. Today we have well over 600, and within five years that number will more than double. In addition, we have a large number of contractors supporting our existing operations and development projects,” he said.
“It is now necessary to support this team with additional management resources and this new structure provides for that.”
The newly placed roles are:
- General counsel, company secretary – Tim Burt
- EGM projects delivery – Brian Cole
- EGM operations and executive director – Allan Davies
- EGM business development – Peter Kane
- EGM marketing – Pat Markey
- EGM corporate services – Lance Muir
- Chief financial officer – Austen Perrin
Expansion-focused activity from Whitehaven in recent months has included a $2.25 billion merger with Nathan Tinkler’s Aston Resources, a $145.6 million takeover of Sydney-based developer Coalworks and an aggressive campaign to dominate New South Wales’ emerging Gunnedah Basin.
Whitehaven already claims it has a strong production and profit base from five producing coal mines, a substantial growth pipeline, including two advanced projects, a suite of high quality exploration assets and a competitive cost base from its Gunnedah mining operations.
The miner’s saleable production is expected to grow from approximately 4.7 million tonnes per annum in FY2011 to approximately 25Mtpa by FY2016.
Work at Whitehaven’s Vickery project in Gunnedah is expected to establish an open-cut capable of producing 4.5Mtpa with a mine life of at least 25 years.
The company also holds an 11% interest in the Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group, which operates the Port of Newcastle’s second dedicated coal terminal; owns 100% of the Gunnedah coal handling and preparation plant and train loadout facility; and has a 50% interest in the Blackjack joint venture, which operates a facility that produces retort coke on Kooragang Island in Newcastle.
