Long-standing Solid Energy chief executive Don Elder has resigned, effective immediately, from the state-owned coalminer.

Elder has run the company since 2000. Discussions over the resignation had been under way "for some time", the company said yesterday.

Last year, Solid Energy went through a massive restructuring, cutting staff by a quarter and closing Spring Creek underground mine with the loss of about 230 workers, caused by plummeting coal values.

Elder has remained available to help the company during its search for a successor.

Chairman Mark Ford said Solid Energy had grown under Elder and achieved many successes. In the interim, organisational development group manager Garry Diack will act as chief executive.

Elder, who is a trained civil engineer and Rhodes Scholar with a PhD from Oxford University, said it was appropriate and timely that the company be led by a new chief executive.

He believed the company had a strong future once it worked its way out of the market downturn.Fairfax NZ

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