“We are focused on producing coking coal with Kalimantan hosting our initial assets and believe the new name Cokal best reflects the future direction of the company,” Cokal executive chairman Lynch said.

Middleton, who has previously served in senior roles for Coal & Allied, Xstrata, BHP Billiton and Exxon Coal, said Cokal’s Indonesia tenements offered open cut and underground mining potential.

“The Kalimantan tenements neighbour BHP Billiton’s Maruwai project in Central Kalimantan and are assets which are prospective for coking coal,” he said.

BHP shelved plans for trial mining at the Maruwai project during the uncertain times of mid 2009 but has since renamed it the IndoMet coal project and is considering it as a future option for development.

Almost a month ago Cokal inked a joint venture agreement with coal, gold and uranium explorer Tanzoz Resources.

Cokal will gain a half-stake of an existing and undisclosed Tanzoz project for spending $A500,000 for exploration by the end of 2011.

If Cokal serves up $1 million by this time, the company will earn a 60% stake in other Tanzoz projects considered prospective for coal in the country.

Tanzoz has interests in the Karoo Basin, with this basin also in neighbouring Mozambique.

Cokal completed a $20 million capital raising in the December quarter.

“We have the financial backing and the commitment and experience to bring these assets to production,” Lynch said after the name change to Cokal.

Drilling in the company’s Indonesian projects is scheduled to take place during this quarter while drilling in Tanzania is slated for the June quarter.

An initial resource estimate from at least one of Cokal’s four Kalimantan projects is expected to be announced in the September quarter.

Middleton oversaw the design and construction of Xstrata’s United longwall project in New South Wales and was a head of operations for BHP’s Illawarra Coal subsidiary.

Cokal executive director Pat Hanna is a geologist with more than 30 years of experience in coal exploration, plus was an exploration manager for Riversdale Mining.

He is an ex-member of the JORC committee and has reviewed more than 40 coal projects around the world, with extensive experience in Indonesian coal.

Cokal head of exploration Chris Turvey spent more than 15 years with Rio Tinto Coal Australia.

Cokal shares are down half a cent to 51.5c this morning.