Press Releases

Peabody Energy today announced that Julian Thornton has been named to the new position of Chief Operating Officer for Australia Operations. Thornton will report to Managing Director of Australia Operations Ian Craig. In this new role, Thornton will be responsible for Peabody's mining operations in New South Wales and Queensland, including safety, operations improvement, engineering, and environmental and geologic services.

Thornton was most recently Regional Operations Officer for Peabody's New South Wales operations. He has more than 25 years of international engineering and operations management experience, primarily with Anglo Coal. He served as Chief Operating Officer and President and Chief Executive Officer of Anglo subsidiary Carbones del Cerrejon. He was also Senior Vice President for Anglo's South American Operations; served as Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of RPG Industries; and has done consulting work for the mining industry.

Thornton holds a Bachelor of Science degree and PhD in Mining Engineering from the University of Wales. He also has a post-graduate degree in Computer Science from Wits University. He is registered as a Chartered Engineer in the United Kingdom and a Professional Engineer in South Africa.

Reporting to Thornton are General Manager of Continuous Improvement Chris Millard, General Manager of Strategic Planning and Projects Julie Beeby, Manager of Safety Training Mauro Soto, General Manager of Supply Chain Management Ronald Osborn, Chief Operations Officer for Queensland Cameron Vorias, and a Chief Operations Officer position for New South Wales to be named.

Peabody Energy is the world's largest private-sector coal company. Its coal products fuel approximately 10 percent of all U.S. electricity generation and more than 2 percent of worldwide electricity.

The use of the words "Peabody," "the company" and "our" relate to Peabody, our subsidiaries and our majority owned affiliates.

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SOURCE: Peabody Energy