Hutchcraft has experience in both underground and surface coal mining in the Midwest region and his background includes engineering, operations supervision and management, preparation and processing, budgeting and financial adherence, environmental health and safety and regulatory affairs.

Over the past decade he has held the positions of Midwest operation director for Headwaters Energy Services, vice president of Indiana operations for Horizon Natural Resources and AEI Resources and general manager for Beech Coal’s Sycamore mine.

Hutchcraft will be flanked by Lily engineering vice president Ron Pickering and mine superintendent Dave Smith.

Pickering first entered the industry in 1989 at Arclar, moving into the engineering department the following year.

Since that time, he has remained in engineering and been involved with five start-up projects including Arclar Portal 2, Willow Lake, White Oak Resources, Prairie State and Landree.

Smith, who has spent nearly 30 years in the underground coal sector, began his career in coal in 1984 with Mid Continent Coal. A certified electrician, welder and mechanic, he worked as a laborer until 1997, when he was promoted to maintenance chief and assistant superintendent at Pride mine and has since worked at several other underground operations in management roles.

Landree, located in Jasonville, Indiana, was recently given a valuation of more than $US90 million.

VHGI first announced in mid-January that it had purchased all of the Lily Group’s capital stock from sole shareholder Rick Risinger. It closed the deal in late February.

Risinger – who continues to serve as president of VHGI Coal – said “financial expertise and wherewithal to bring what we needed to develop our mine” had led Lily to choose it as its partner.

“We look forward to exploiting our opportunities at the Landree mine, as well as other coal mining opportunities,” he said.

In January, VHGI chief executive officer Doug Martin called Landree the “linch pin” of its plan to be a significant player in the Midwestern coal mining market.

“With the help and support of Rick's management team and our dedicated Lily Group employees, our plan is to extract more than 21 million salable tons of coal onsite while using our company's cash flow to acquire and develop other coal opportunities, first in Greene County, Indiana and then beyond,” Martin said.

In addition to energy and mining, VHGI has assets and interests in precious metals and healthcare technology.