Western Coal Appoints New Chief Operating Officer

VANCOUVER, June 8 /CNW/ - Western Coal Corp (TSX: WTN, WTN.WT and AIM: WTN) ("Company" or "Western") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Neil Winkelmann (49) as Chief Operating Officer effective July 5, 2010.

Mr. Winkelmann, brings nearly 23 years mining experience, primarily coal, to Western. He has held senior operating positions with Anglo Coal, Shell Coal and Power Coal, all in Australia, and prior to joining Western he was with Rio Tinto's Copper Group where he led the project business analysis for operating mines and projects. Mr. Winklemann is a mining engineer with a MBA from the University of Oxford.

Mr. Keith Calder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Western comments, "We are extremely fortunate to have someone with Neil's operational and business expertise join the team. Neil will lead the execution of our organic growth strategy to bring production to our target of 10 million tonnes per year by fiscal 2013. His focus will be to expand and develop our portfolio of assets, improving productivity and reduce operating costs."

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), 40% 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

For further information: David Jan, Director, Investor Relations, Phone: [phone], Email: [email protected]