Maynard, the director of technical and administrative support, was rumoured to have handed in his resignation in December.

According to information received by ILN, he was believed to be “second-in-command” of the Australian coal business, ranked only below Vale’s global coal managing director, Decio Amaral.

More recently, Vale Australia coal projects manager Nieuwenhuis resigned, according to separate information ILN received.

Nieuwenhuis previously worked for Rio Tinto’s Kestrel longwall mine and was one of the members of the Australian Coal Association Research Program’s Roadway Development Task Group.

Vale could not provide any confirmation to ILN at this stage, with a spokesperson saying the Nieuwenhuis’ resignation was not “official”.

Vale recently awarded consultancy Sinclair Knight Merz the contract to study the surface and underground infrastructure required for the Ellensfield longwall project in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.

Located halfway between the towns of Coppabella and Moranbah, the project is targeting up to 5.5 million tonnes per annum run of mine for 4.7Mtpa of export coking and thermal coal over a 20-year mine life.

In August, Amaral said first longwall coal was expected in 2014 while construction would begin in late 2011.

“The Ellensfield planning is going well and the project is on track, and we don’t anticipate that there are any factors that would change this,” a Vale spokesperson said.

Vale aims to quadruple production at the nearby Carborough Downs longwall mine this calendar year to its nominal capacity of 4.8Mtpa.