Chait, who holds a bachelor degree in commerce from the University of Cape Town, will begin his role on June 1.
He will replace Norah George, who is leaving the position due to family health reasons.
Chait has spent more than a decade at Xstrata Coal and held a number of positions, including general manager of finance and manager of finance for its South Africa division.
Guildford managing director Mick Avery said Chait’s appointment came at an exciting time.
“Mr Chait’s appointment is a further critical step on the path toward building a strong executive management capability that will guide the transformation of Guildford from explorer to coal producer,” he said.
“With production set to commence from our South Gobi open cut mine in the next few months, and other major developments anticipated in projects in the Mid Gobi, Mongolia and the Galilee Basin [in Australia], Louis’ previous experience gained in supporting the growth and expansion of Xstrata Coal will be invaluable to Guildford as it follows a similar growth path.”
Guildford’s South Gobi project is located about 50km east of Nariin Sukhait, the location of SouthGobi Resources’ Ovoot Tolgoi mine and the MAK mine, which currently produce and export coking and thermal coal to customers in China.
South Gobi has the potential to produce about 2 million tonnes of coal per annum.
In other Guildford news, the company has acquired the remaining 20% stake in Orion Mining held by Spinifex Rural management for $1 million.
The acquisition gives Guildford ownership of EPCs 1890, 1893, 1962, 1963 and 1964 which make up the Pentland project located in the northern end of the coal-rich Galilee Basin.
The Pentland project has an exploration target ranging from 295Mt to 2.89Bt.
Guildford said Pentland was a potential early stage thermal coal development opportunity.
The tenement is located southeast of its flourishing Hughenden project in the north eastern portion of the Galilee Basin and is well located to utilise existing rail and port capacity.
Guildford plans to commence drilling at the Pentland project in June with the aim of identifying target zones for more detailed and structured drilling.
