Mr Cook has over 40 years of technical knowledge of underground coal mining and methods. For the first 20 years of his career he worked in various underground roles in coal mines primarily in West Virginia. He is highly regarded in both the US and Australia as an extremely capable underground coal mining engineer. Previous positions include Vice President of Operations at Mid-Vol Mining, Madison WV; General Superintendent at Mistic Energy Inc, Beckley WV; Mine Manager of five underground coal mines owned by Eastern Associated Coal Corporation in Wharton WV; founding shareholder and director of Bounty Industries Ltd providing contract mining at Ivanhoe Colliery, NSW, for Centennial Coal and at German Creek Colliery, Central QLD, for Anglo Coal. Most recently, Mr Cook recommissioned the Donkin underground coal mine located in Nova Scotia, Canada.