Borich and Schaeffer are up for election alongside the miner’s existing directors seeking reelection, including chairman Dickson Lee, independent Dr Syd Peng, independent Mohan Datwani and independent Jingcai Yang.

Borich, an MBA, previously served on the L&L board from 2005 to 2010. He was formerly the US Consul General in Shanghai under the US Embassy to China.

The China expert served under every US President from Nixon to Clinton in a China-related capacity, and he also has extensive Taiwan experience.

Borich was chief of the political section of the American Institute in Taiwan and director of the Taiwan coordination staff in the US State Department.

Schaeffer, also an MBA and a three-decade veteran of international business and mining in the Asia Pacific region including China, US, Mongolia, and Thailand, was previously CEO of a Hong Kong energy company and executive director of John T Boyd's Asia Pacific operations.

Schaeffer also recently joined L&L's management team. The producer said it would use his breadth of US and Asian experience to look at potential US energy opportunities.

“I am very pleased to announce that the board has nominated these two experienced professionals for election by the company's shareholders next month,” L&L director and nomination and governance committee chairman Peng said.

“I believe both will bring new elements, expanding the sophistication of the board.”