CLEVELAND, Jan. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NACCO Industries, Inc. (NYSE: NC) announced today that Clifford R. Miercort, President and Chief Executive Officer of NACCO's wholly owned subsidiary, The North American Coal Corporation, will retire on March 1, 2006.
Mr. Miercort, 66, who has held his current position since 1989, began his career at North American Coal in 1976 as Assistant to the President and has made significant contributions to the Company during his tenure. Under Mr. Miercort's leadership, North American Coal expanded its lignite coal mining operations in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, and expanded its mining services to include the mining of limerock in Florida. Mr. Miercort has consistently demonstrated his commitment to the highest standards for worker safety and the environment, to the development and implementation of innovative mining techniques, and to advancing the uses of lignite coal.
Upon Mr. Miercort's retirement, Robert L. Benson, 58, currently Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of North American Coal, will become President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Benson currently has responsibility for all of the Company's lignite and limerock operations, as well as the Company's Ohio and Pennsylvania properties.
Mr. Benson has held positions of leadership in virtually every aspect of North American Coal's operations and brings extensive experience and knowledge of the Company and the industry to his new position. Mr. Benson joined North American Coal in 1976 as a contract administrator at The Falkirk Mining Company. He went on to become General Manager of the Indian Head Mine, President of The Coteau Properties Company, General Manager of Mississippi Lignite Mining Company and Vice President of the Eastern and Southern Operations.
The North American Coal Corporation and its affiliated companies mine and market lignite coal primarily as fuel for power generation and provide selected value-added mining services for other natural resources companies.
NACCO Industries, Inc. is a holding company with three principal businesses: lift trucks, housewares and mining. NACCO Materials Handling Group, Inc. designs, engineers, manufactures, sells, services and leases a comprehensive line of lift trucks and aftermarket parts marketed globally under the Hyster(R) and Yale(R) brand names. NACCO Housewares Group consists of Hamilton Beach/Proctor-Silex, Inc., a leading designer, manufacturer, importer and marketer of small electric kitchen and household appliances, as well as commercial products for restaurants, bars and hotels, and The Kitchen Collection, Inc., a national specialty retailer of brand-name kitchenware, small electric appliances and related accessories. For more information about NACCO Industries, visit the Company's website at www.nacco.com.
SOURCE: NACCO Industries, Inc.
CONTACT: Christina Kmetko, Manager - Finance of NACCO Industries, Inc.,
+1-440-449-9669; or Dean Peterson, Government Relations Manager of North
American Coal Corporation, +1-701-222-7590
Web site: www.nacco.com
