Day, who previously served as senior VP overseeing Patriot's West Virginia central and Kentucky operations, along with its centralized engineering group, will take responsibility for all of Patriot's operations.

He will also manage the producer’s safety, engineering, purchasing and maintenance functions.

Day, a 20-year mining industry veteran, will continue to report to company president and chief executive officer Bennett Hatfield.

“Mike is a proven and experienced leader with operations and engineering expertise,” Hatfield said.

“In his new position, he will oversee a number of operational cost reduction initiatives that are critical to achieving the results in our business plan [and] will further strengthen our executive management team and support Patriot's ongoing reorganization efforts.”

WV northern region senior VP James Magro, WV southern region senior VP John Jones, WV central region VP Matthew Cook and Kentucky operations general manager Robert Bosch will be serving under Day.

Safety VP Terry Hudson will also report to Day, as will engineering VP Kent DesRocher, materials management VP C Wayne Elkins and maintenance director James Clendenen.

Patriot has 11 active mining complexes in Appalachia and the Illinois Basin and controls approximately 1.9 billion tons of proven and probable coal reserves.

It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last July, citing the weak coal markets for the decision.