Johnson will serve as senior project manager for the roll-out of MicroCoal, which includes technology Carbon Friendly believes will improve coal-fired utilities' economic, operational and environmental performance.

His start date was not indicated.

Johnson joined Massey Energy in 1999, eventually becoming vice-president of operations and chief engineer at the company’s Martin County Coal in 2008.

Prior to that he was a vice-president at Massey and Penn Virginia joint venture Coal Handling Solutions. During that time he was responsible for the construction and design of projects in Canada, Texas, Florida, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Brazil.

Johnson was business unit manager for Alpha Natural Resources following Alpha’s acquisition of Massey in June 2011. He had responsibility for preliminary design and layout of the producer’s proposed surface and underground operations as well as the budgets and day-to-day operation for major projects and environmental issues.

“Robert has had a distinguished career in the coal industry and has a strong ability to manage and successfully deploy large-scale projects,” company director and chief executive officer Slawek Smulewicz said.

“His skill and ability will be required as MicroCoal begins construction of its first commercial plants this year.”