Tinkler, who is Aston’s major shareholder, also installed the chief executive of his privately owned Boardwalk Resources Peter Kane at the helm of Aston in place of current chief executive Todd Hannigan.

He announced a major board reshuffle for the company, whose key project is the Maules Creek coal project in the Gunnedah Basin of New South Wales.

Hannigan and chief financial officer Tom Todd resigned from their management roles and the board effective today and would be entitled to payments in accordance with their executive employment agreements, according to Aston.

Tinkler said: “These appointments see the board and management of Aston significantly strengthened and will bolster the company’s next phase of growth to bring the Maules Creek mine into production.

“Aston is a relatively young company, having acquired Maules Creek in February 2010, and successfully listing on the ASX in August 2010.

“The company is coming out of the initial development phase and moving into a construction and operational phase. This requires a different and additional skill set, and these appointments meet this need.”

Kane is a mining engineer with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry in Australia and New Zealand, having worked with BHP Coal, Leighton Group and Macarthur Coal.

Prior to joining Boardwalk earlier this year, Kane was the chief operating officer for Macarthur Coal, where he was responsible for all operational aspects and project development.

Former Nationals party leader Vaile will remain as an independent non-executive director in the role of deputy chairman, while David Ryan has been appointed as an independent director. Ryan replaces independent director Peter Hay, who elected to resign from the board.

A search is underway for an additional two independent directors to join the Aston board.

Once these positions are filled, the board will comprise four independent, non-executive directors and two non-executive directors, Tinkler and Philip Christensen.