Lynch, a senior financial executive within the Australian and international mining industries, holds a bachelor of mechanical engineering and economics from the University of Queensland.

In addition, Lynch holds a master’s degree in finance from the University of New South Wales.

His financial career has career has spanned more than 18 years, including positions in commodity sales at Bankers Trust, project finance at Investec Bank Australia, corporate advisory and equity capital markets at RBC Capital Markets and Southern Cross Equities, now Bell Potter.

Xanadu chairman Brian Thornton said he was happy to have Lynch on board as the company moved toward growing shareholder value.

“We are delighted to attract an individual of Haydn’s calibre and extensive resource sector experience in what promises to be a most exciting period in the evolution of the company,” Thornton said.

Lynch said he looked forward to joining the team at Xanadu.

“Xanadu presents investors with an excellent opportunity to capitalise on its world-class copper/gold porphyry targets and the growth and development of a hard coking coal platform in partnership with Noble Group across Mongolia,” he said.

Lynch said Mongolia was an exciting destination for investors, with the pace of resource development in the country showing no signs of declining within the next decade.

Xanadu has a 50:50 joint venture with Noble over its coking coal assets and also has a handful of copper-gold porphyry and gold projects.

The company is progressing exploration at its Nuurstei coking coal project located in the Khuvsgul province as well as drilling on its Galshar coal project.