Lawson has 13 years of experience in the coal sector as a member of Glencore International’s coal division, based variously in Australia, Singapore and the US, during which time he was involved in acquisitions, investment, operations and marketing.

He has a masters of science in management from Stanford Graduate School of Business and also has a bachelor of laws and a bachelor of economics from Sydney University.

“Andrew’s appointment will complement the current senior executive team and will be a key driver in progressing the company’s suite of mining and development projects in Queensland and New South Wales,” the company said.

New projects under development by Cockatoo Coal in the Surat Basin will add significantly to its future coal production profile and valuation as they come on stream, according to a tip sheet by Fat Prophets.

Cockatoo is targeting production of 2.8 million tonnes of coal in calendar year 2014 and 9.9Mt by 2016. Importantly, the quantity of PCI coal in the production mix will steadily improve to peak at 90% in calendar year 2014.

Cockatoo’s Woori project will be the first of the Surat Basin assets to come on stream in 2016.

The company recently completed the sale of 49% of Woori to Japanese giant Mitsui. The joint venture will take Woori through to full production, which is anticipated to be 2016.

In support of current mining at Baralaba in the Bowen Basin, the company’s JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate stands at 168Mt of ore.