Yancoal has replaced its chief executive officer amid national media reports that Chinese shareholders were unhappy about the performance of subsidiary Watagan Mining.

David Moult has been appointed to the role after Reinhold Schmidt resigned from March 8 to ‘pursue new career opportunities’.

In an announcement on Monday, Yancoal noted Mr Schmidt’s invaluable contribution to the company-transforming acquisition of Coal and Allied.

The new CEO, Mr Moult has been an independent non-executive director at Yancoal since January 2018.

He was previously managing director and chief executive officer of Centennial Coal (2011-2017), and non-executive director there until January 2018.

Yancoal’s Queensland coal mining operations include Yarrabee and the Middlemount Joint Venture.

It also manages Cameby Downs on behalf of its majority shareholder Yanzhou Coal Mining Company.

Yancoal’s stated performance targets for 2020 are:

– Saleable coal production of around 36 million tonnes (attributable).

– Operating Cash Costs (excluding government royalties) to remain around $61/tonne.

– Capital expenditure is expected to be around $380 million (attributable).