Peter Edwards’ immediate priority will be the optimisation of cash spend for ongoing Endocoal exploration work including the expansion of the coal resource at Rockwood and development of the Meteor Downs South open pit.

He will also liaise with the explorer’s corporate adviser Macquarie Capital regarding rail and port infrastructure developments.

The company appointed Macquarie in May to help field offers across a range of potential company and project-level opportunities which might include takeover, merger, acquisition transactions, divestment and/or joint venture transactions at either the project or tenement level.

All commercial activities will now be based at the company’s newly relocated head office in Brisbane, proximate to Endocoal’s Queensland projects.

“Peter Edwards’ appointment as CFO heralds a further critical step in building a strong executive management team with capability to transform Endocoal from coal explorer to becoming a significant coal producer,” Endocoal chief executive Tim Hedley said.

“Peter will be directly involved in the critical opportunities, identification and evaluation activities now underway involving Endocoal’s corporate adviser, Macquarie Capital.

“The aim is to identify strategic opportunities that will enable Endocoal to monetise its early exploration successes, continue exploration now in those key target areas identified, as well as provide the platform for the delivery of large-scale, long-life, profitable mines in the mid-term.”

Endocoal reports that via Macquarie it is still in active dialogue with an unspecified number of parties in relation to potential merger and acquisition transactions.

In the March quarter, Endocoal finalised its evaluation of the Meteor Downs South thermal coal project and an increase in the overall level of JORC resources from 348.5 million tonnes to 388.7Mt.

Over the quarter, the company’s flagship Rockwood project increased from 312.5Mt to 337.3Mt of coal and Orion Downs boosted its JORC resource from 36Mt to 51.4Mt of coal.