Royal Coal – which has operations in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee – has appointed Rodney Mays as chief executive officer.

According to Royal Coal, the 26-year mining industry veteran has extensive knowledge of the Appalachian coal industry and day-to-day operations.

Mays was previously operations manager and eastern Kentucky regional mine manager for a publicly held operator.

"As the company looks to expand its coal production and operations we are pleased that Mr Mays has joined the Royal Coal team,” chairman Tom Griffis said.

“He has demonstrated an ability to ramp up production while at the same time driving down costs – this is exactly what Royal Coal needs at this time in our mine development plan."

Washington-based and China-focused L&L Energy has elected a new chief financial officer, Ian Robinson, effective June 30.

The licensed certified public accountant has been an independent director of L&L since December 2008 and served as chairman of the company's audit committee.

"As chairman of our audit committee and member of the board since December 2008, Ian not only brings tremendous experience as a former senior partner of Ernst & Young, one of the Big 4 accounting firms, he will also hit the ground running with his day to day knowledge of L&L," chairman Dickson Lee said.