Wing has served as a director since March 2004 and stepped down from the board to focus on other commitments, including his role as company secretary, NAE said in a statement Monday.

“On behalf of the NAE board, chairman Alan Broome thanks Adrien for his contribution and looks forward to maintaining the excellent relationship as the company advances the exciting Lochinvar project,” NAE said.

Earlier this month, the company announced it had received positive clean coal results for the first drill hole at its Lochinvar project.

The company declared an exploration target of 330-410 million tons of metallurgical coal when it clinched the underground license last June in the UK’s all-but-forgotten Canonbie coalfield.

Lochinvar covers 67.5sq.km (6752 hectares) and is served by extensive infrastructure, including a railway line within 1km, providing access to multiple ports and steelworks.

Washability testwork for both the seams intersected indicated that high yields of low-ash, low-phosphorous coal with attractive metallurgical properties were likely from the deposit.

The clean coal from the primary “nine-foot” seam had 3.5% ash, 1.36% sulfur and a calorific value of 7850 kilocalories per kilogram.