Waratah announces changes to its Board of Directors

    BRISBANE, Australia and VANCOUVER, Dec. 22 /CNW/ - Waratah Coal Inc.
("Waratah" or the "Company") (TSX-V/ASX: WCI) announces that, effective
December 19, 2008, Mr. Shaun Maskerine, Mr. Nicholas Mather, Mr. Howard Stack
and Mr. Andrew Wilson (the "Outgoing Directors") have resigned from the Board
of Directors. These resigning Board members have been replaced by Professor
Clive Palmer, Mr. Clive Mensink, Mr. Geoffrey Stephen Smith and Mr. Domenic
Martino (the "Incoming Directors"). Peter Lynch, Waratah's President and Chief
Executive Officer, will continue to hold his position as a Director. Professor
Palmer has been named the Chairman of the Board.
    Mr. Maskerine has also resigned from his position as Waratah's Corporate
Secretary. He has been replaced by Mr. Derek Payne.
    Waratah would like to thank the Outgoing Directors for their
contributions to the Company and welcome the Incoming Directors and the new
Corporate Secretary.
    These changes follow the acquisition of approximately 73.2% of the
outstanding Waratah common shares by Mineralogy Canada Acquisition Corp.
("Mineralogy Canada"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mineralogy Pty Ltd.
("Mineralogy"), by way of a take-over bid. Together with shares previously
purchased, Mineralogy Canada now owns approximately 90.7% of the issued and
outstanding Waratah common shares. The Incoming Directors and the new
Corporate Secretary are all nominees of Mineralogy.
    Mineralogy Canada has amended its take-over bid to extend the deadline
for acceptance to 5:00 p.m. (Vancouver time) on January 5, 2009. Mineralogy
Canada has stated that it intends, after the expiry of its take-over bid, to
enter into one or more transactions to enable it or one of its affiliates to
acquire all of the Waratah common shares not deposited pursuant to the
take-over bid for the same consideration as provided under the take-over bid.--------------------------------

    Professor Clive Palmer
    ----------------------Professor Palmer has over 25 years experience in the Australian resource
industry and has had significant success with major projects. He is Chairman
and Founder of Mineralogy, a private Australian Company that has successfully
concluded major transactions with a number of companies including the Chinese
Government-owned CITIC Pacific Limited (HK Listed), Australasian Resources
Limited (ASX Listed) and a Memorandum of Understanding with Fortescue Metals
Limited (ASX Listed).
    Mineralogy holds one of the world's major iron ore deposits estimated to
be over 160 billion tonnes in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. CITIC
Pacific Limited has commenced the development of a A$4 billion project, funded
by Chinese Government owned Banks, to export 24 million tonnes of iron ore
annually from Western Australia. Professor Palmer is also a Director of 28
other companies and a leader in the Australian community with business
affiliations throughout the world.Mr. Clive Mensink
    -----------------Mr Mensink is a Senior Executive Officer with Mineralogy and has been
with Mineralogy for over 15 years. As Project Manager for Mineralogy's
numerous exploration programmes, Mr Mensink has played a key role in the
development of the Balmoral South Project. He has led and has been
instrumental in the success of numerous business delegations which have
represented Mineralogy in the Peoples Republic of China.Mr. Geoffrey Stephen Smith
    --------------------------Mr. Smith has 28 years experience as a lawyer and a senior partner in the
prominent Queensland, Australia legal firm of Bell Legal Group. Mr. Smith has
extensive experience in commercial litigation, intellectual property and
corporate work throughout his long career and has been a registered arbitrator
for over 10 years. Mr. Smith retired as a principal of his legal practice to
take up his appointment as Managing Director Legal of Mineralogy.Mr. Domenic Martino
    -------------------Mr Martino was the Chief Executive Officer of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in
Australia from 2001 to 2003. During that time he was also a member of the
Global Executive Committee of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu International. Prior to
taking on the position as Chief Executive Officer he was the Managing Partner
of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu's New South Wales operations from 1998 to 2001. He
was a partner of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and its predecessor firms from 1981
to 2003 during which time, in addition to a number of management operational
roles, he specialised in the corporate finance area including mergers and
acquisitions, initial public offerings and strategic opportunities. Mr Martino
is a Director and Non-Executive Chairman of Australasian Resources Ltd, a
Director and Chairman of Computercorp Limited, and a director of AIM/TSX
listed Gladstone Pacific Nickel Ltd. He was a founding Director and former
Chairman of coal bed methane companies Sydney Gas Limited and Blue Energy
Limited (formerly Energy Investments Limited).Derek Payne
    -----------Derek Payne has a Bachelor of Commerce degree majoring in Accounting and
Finance and in Information Systems and Management Science. He is a Certified
Practising Accountant, currently engaged by Mineralogy as Finance Director,
Manager of Cold Mountain Stud Pty Ltd and director of Bushjet Pty Ltd.
    Derek has a wide range of experience in business and financial management
issues within a diverse range of industries including broadcasting,
performance arts, corrections, financial services, training and mining
development.
    A particular focus has been the implementation of financial systems,
policies and compliance for start ups and for newly corporatized entities.
Derek has been actively engaged in Corporations Law compliance work,
secretarial duties, strategic planning, built asset maintenance, IT network
support as well as more usual financial controller functions and management
and financial accounting operations.The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept
    responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation
to buy any of the securities of Waratah in the United States. The securities
have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities
Act of 1933, as amended ("the U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities
law and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to U.S. Persons
unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state
securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

    Cautionary language:

    Except for the historical and present factual information contained
herein, the matters set forth in this news release, including words such as
"expects", "projects", "plans", "anticipates" and similar expressions, are
forward-looking information that represents management of Waratah's internal
projections, expectations or beliefs concerning, among other things, future
operating results and various components thereof or the economic performance
of Waratah. The projections, estimates and beliefs contained in such
forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties, which may cause Waratah's actual performance and financial
results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future
performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, those
described in Waratah's filings with the Canadian securities authorities.
Accordingly, holders of Waratah shares and potential investors are cautioned
that events or circumstances could cause results to differ materially from
those predicted. Waratah disclaims any responsibility to update these
forward-looking statements.

For further information: Peter Lynch, President and CEO, T: +61 7 3303
0692, E-mail: [e-mail]; Michael Joyner, Investor Relations -
Canada, T: [phone], E-mail: [e-mail]