Davies, a 40-year veteran of the public accounting and mining sectors, succeeds resigning Brian Rodriguez, who will continue to serve on the company’s board.

His initial entrance into the mining industry was in 1972, when he worked for mine roof support system and tunneling company Commercial Sharing.

His accounting experience includes Robison, Hill and Company, where he was chief executive officer and, during his career in public accounting, he has been involved with oil and gas, coal, gold, silver, phosphate, sand and gravel mining companies in various roles.

Davies, a graduate of the University of Utah and the University of Wyoming, has also served on the board of directors of two mining companies.

As of late, America West has been making changes operationally as well, announcing in May that its 60,000 ton-per-month Horizon underground mine had commenced full production and that a longwall may be in its future.

Horizon, which holds an estimated resource of 16 million recoverable tons of thermal coal, has produced about 1.6Mt to date. The 60,000tpm average production goal will be reached at prime levels with two continuous miners in operation.

America West intends to deploy a third continuous miner during the second half of 2011, which should increase monthly coal production to more than 90,000t – more than 1Mt annually.

The mine’s long-term expansion goals include the acquisition and installation of a longwall mining system, pending the receipt of necessary financing.

"Now that Horizon has transitioned to full production phase, our mining team will commence with the removal of the pillars of coal,” company president Dan Baker said at the time.

"We have arrived at a critical inflexion point in the evolution of America West Resources, and our future has never looked brighter."