VANCOUVER, May 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Western Coal Corp (TSX: WTN, WTN.WT and AIM: WTN) ("Company" or "Western") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. David R. Beatty, O.B.E. (67) as Director and Chairman of its Board of Directors effective June 1, 2010. Mr. Beatty replaces Mr. John Byrne, who retired from the Board on May 31, 2010 (refer to March 26, 2010 announcement).

Mr. Beatty is presently a Director of the three publicly traded companies: Bank of Montreal, First Service Corporation, and Inmet Mining where he is the Chair. He is also a Professor of Strategic Management for the Rotman School of Management and the Conway Director for the Clarkson Centre for Business Ethics & Board Effectiveness at the University of Toronto.

Mr. Beatty was the former Managing Director of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, and has held numerous Board of Director and executive management positions over his distinguished career. He is Honorary Consul to Canada for the Government of Papua New Guinea, and in 1993 was awarded the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.).

A graduate of economics from the University of Toronto, he was a Nuffield Scholar at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors (Canada).

Mr. Robert Chase, lead Director of Western, comments, "David is recognized as a highly experienced independent director. He brings a wealth of international experience and combined with his strategic insight and corporate governance experience will further strengthen the leadership team at Western. On behalf of the rest of the Board of Directors we welcome David to the team."

Mr. Beatty states, "I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead the Western Coal board at this time of extensive growth within the Company. I am also excited to be working with the rest of the Board, and the strong management team led by Keith Calder, President and Chief Executive Officer. Western is competitively positioned with high quality assets in the global seaborne metallurgical coal markets, and a defined strategy to increase production across the portfolio. Collectively, our focus is to further enhance shareholder value by executing the company's plans and delivering the growth opportunities safely and efficiently."

Listed below are the names of the companies of which David R. Beatty has been a corporate director at any time in the past five years:

  Bank of Montreal*
  First Service Corporation*
  Inmet Mining Limited*
  Goldcorp Limited
  Husky Injection Molding
 
  * current directorship
 

There are no other details to be disclosed under Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules.

About Western Coal

Western Coal is a producer of high quality metallurgical coal from mines in northeast British Columbia (Canada) and high quality metallurgical coal and compliant thermal coal from mines located in West Virginia (USA). Western Coal also owns approximately 55% of Energybuild Group Plc (EBG: AIM) which produces high quality anthracite and metallurgical coal in South Wales (UK). Other interests owned include a 48% interest in Mandalay Resources Corporation (TSX.V: MND), 38% interest in Xtract Energy (XTR: AIM), 20% interest in NEMI Northern Energy & Mining (NNE.A: TSX). The Company is headquartered in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and trades on the AIM and TSX stock exchanges under the symbol "WTN". More information can be found at www.westerncoal.com.

Source: Western Coal Corp.