TAIYUAN, China, June 22 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Puda Coal, Inc. (NYSE Amex: PUDA), a supplier of high grade metallurgical coking coal used to produce coke for steel manufacturing in China and a consolidator of twelve coal mines in Shanxi Province, today announced that the Company appointed Ms. Irene (Yin Yuen) Cheong as Financial Controller effective July 1, 2010.
Prior to her appointment, Ms. Cheong served as a manager of Ascend Capital Partners ("Ascend"). Prior to that, she was a supervisor at KPMG Peat Marwick in Hong Kong before immigrating to the U.S. in 1994. Ms. Cheong is a CPA licensed in New York and California. She earned her Master of Business Administration from City University of New York. Since 2005 and until May 2010, the Company outsourced certain accounting functions to Ascend. As a manager at Ascend, Ms. Cheong was one of the senior accounting consultants to Puda Coal.
"We are delighted to appoint Ms. Cheong as our Financial Controller," commented Mr. Liping Zhu, President and CEO of Puda Coal, Inc. "We welcome her experience in accounting, financial analysis, financial controls and reporting systems. Ms. Cheong will be a valuable team member, as we execute our growth strategy to acquire several target coal mines," said Mr. Liping Zhu, President and CEO of Puda Coal.
Commenting on her new role, Ms. Cheong said, "I am honored to join Puda Coal and look forward to working closely with the management team to continue to execute the Company's new business strategies."
About Puda Coal, Inc.
Puda Coal, through its subsidiaries, supplies premium high grade metallurgical coking coal used to produce coke for steel manufacturing in China. The Company currently possesses 3.5 million metric tons of annual coking coal capacity. The Company has recently moved upstream into coal mining, as a consolidator and acquirer of coal mines in Shanxi Province, including the Pinglu projects and the Jianhe projects. On September 30, 2009, Shanxi Coal, a 90% indirect subsidiary of the Company, was appointed by the Shanxi provincial government as an acquirer and consolidator of eight thermal coal mines located Pinglu County in southern Shanxi Province. Shanxi Coal plans to consolidate the eight coal mines into five, increasing their total annual capacity from approximately 1.6 million to 3.6 million metric tons. Shanxi Coal received another approval by the Shanxi provincial government to consolidate four additional coking coal mines into one coal mine in Huozhou County. After the completion of the consolidation, the Jianhe project is expected to increase the total annual capacity from 720,000 metric tons to 900,000 metric tons, according to the Shanxi provincial government's approval. For more information, please visit http://www.pudacoalinc.com .
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
The information contained herein includes forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or to our future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects our current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. For example, our ability to acquire and consolidate the target coal mines are subject to, among other things, the risks and uncertainties relating to the market and geological condition, due diligence, negotiation for definitive agreements, etc. which are beyond our control, as well as our management's ability and capacity to execute our coal mine acquisition strategy and manage the coal mine operations. We assume no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.
For more information, please contact:
Investor Relations Contact:
CCG Investor Relations
Crocker Coulson, President
Tel: +1-646-213-1915
Email: crocker.coulson@ccgir.com
Elaine Ketchmere, VP of Financial Writing
Tel: +1-310-954-1345
Email: elaine.ketchmere@ccgir.com
Web: www.ccgirasia.com
Company Contact:
Laby Wu, Chief Financial Officer, Director of Investor Relations
Puda Coal, Inc.
Tel: +86-10-6439-2405
Email: labywu@gmail.com
Web: www.pudacoalinc.com
