Waratah Coal has been named Queensland Explorer of the Year at the Mining 2008 conference in Brisbane.

Waratah CEO and President Peter Lynch and Company Chairman Nick Mather accepted the award last night in Brisbane, from the Deputy Director General of the Queensland Department of Mines and Energy, Stuart Booker.

Mr Lynch said it was a great honour for Waratah to be acknowledged by the Queensland mining sector.

“For a relatively young Company like Waratah to receive this award is a tremendous recognition of our accomplishments,” he said.

“Waratah has secured a world-class thermal coal resource in the Galilee Basin in Central Queensland as well as a suite of other coal exploration tenements.”

The Company this year announced plans for a $5.3 billion coal project.

Waratah plans to open up the Galilee Basin, a currently undeveloped thermal coal province near the town of Alpha, in Central Queensland. Waratah’s exploration to date has delineated more than four billion tonnes of Inferred thermal coal Resources.

The proposed large scale mine would be linked to a new coal terminal on the Central Queensland coast by a railway line which would be open to third party users and free up costly bottlenecks already inhibiting Australia’s coal industry.

Waratah’s Galilee Basin Project has been declared a significant project by the Queensland Government.

Brisbane-based Waratah is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) in Canada and a dual listing on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) is due on the 7th November, 2008.

Waratah’s senior management all have long, established careers working for some of Australia’s largest resources companies.