The decision follows the January 21 resignation of former MD Michael Avery due to ill health.

Westerhuis was named the chief executive officer of Guildford Mongolian operations on February 8.

The company cited Westerhuis’ experience as Idemitsu Australia Ensham joint venture CEO in developing the 9 million tonne per annum Ensham open cut and underground mining complex.

As a result of the appointment, company founder Craig Ransley will return to his former position as a non-executive director of the Guildford board.

Louis Chait will continue as company secretary.

In the same announcement, Guildford named Tsogt Togoo as Terra Energy’s nominated director to the Guildford board after increasing its equity in Terra Energy’s South Gobi and Middle Gobi tenements.

The announcements come as the Australia-listed company sits on the cusp of first production at its South Gobi open pit in southern Mongolia.

South Gobi is 50km east of Nariin Sukhait, a massive deposit where two other producers currently export coking and thermal coal.

Guildford said the project should be online in the next couple of months and had the potential to produce about 5Mt of coking coal.