IECA Global Series: Water Management and Soil Protection in Mining

Blaine began working for Perpetua Resources in 2012 soon after getting his Bachelor’s in Geology from Central Washington University. He was a part of the initial field exploration and core logging teams. He has also conducted an auger drilling program of the legacy tailings deposit, been a geotechnical logging geologist on the drill rigs, and is currently the on-site environmental geologist in charge of surface water and groundwater monitoring and sampling.

Kyle has been in the mining industry for more than 12 years, working in both operations and exploration. His experience includes a range of planning, permitting, environmental compliance, and restoration and closure at various mine sites.

Sam Field has been with Perpetua Resources since 2011, where he primarily worked with the exploration team before moving on to be the site environmental geologist through 2017. He is now the site supervising geologist overseeing drilling and environmental operations.

W. Lee Daniels is the Thomas B. Hutcheson Professor of Environmental Soil Science at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.  He received his Ph.D. in Soil Science from VPI & SU in 1985.  Dr. Daniels areas of specialization include stabilization and restoration of disturbed lands including areas disturbed by mining, road building, waste disposal, urbanization and erosion. Full publications and details available at: https://landrehab.org/. 

Michael is an environmental management specialist with more 30 years’ practical experience in the civil construction, mining, and pipeline industries.  He has been a Director of the Australasian Chapter of IECA for approximately 20 years, was President for 14 years and Technical Vice President of R1 prior to Regionalisation for three years.  He is a CPEC (No.1351) and is Co-chair of Technical Committee for Envirocert Int.

Michael specialises in erosion and sediment control, landform design, rehabilitation, revegetation, natural channel design and water treatment. He is recognised nationally and internationally as a soil conservation specialist. He has presented many papers on erosion and sediment control and rehabilitation in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and the USA. He has also presented numerous field days on revegetation practices, creek rehabilitation, erosion and sediment control and turbid water treatment.

Michael has also provided erosion and sediment control expert witness services to NSW and Qld Government Agencies, Local Governments, private companies and NGO’s and has a track record of developing practical and workable solutions where others fail using quality science to develop informed solutions.

Clayton Colmer is a Senior Environmental Engineer with the state of New South Wales' Soil Conservation Service. He heads a team of 6 professional officers who deliver coastal and riverbank protection works, strategic bushfire trail construction, contaminated land management, and mine rehabilitation projects. Prior to his management role, he has worked as an engineer in the private and public sector delivering water and sewerage schemes for Australian rural and aboriginal communities, restoring industrial era canals in northern United Kingdom, and whitewater rafting in the Canadian Rocky's. Clayton has always been passionate about restoring damaged landscapes and understands that the majority of earth is no longer available for protection, leaving restoration as the key to sustainability.

Rob Loch is one of Australia's most experienced erosion research and management specialists. He has over 45 years’ experience in research and management of soil erosion, soil conservation, and land rehabilitation. His experience encompasses dryland and irrigated agriculture, feedlots, forest management, effluent disposal, urban development, and minesites, with experience in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, as well as across Australia. He was a member of the Editorial Advisory Committee for the Australian Journal of Soil Research (1996-2001), and a member of the Committee that produced the Leading Practice Handbooks on Mine Rehabilitation for the then Federal Department of Industry, Tourism, and Resources. He has recently been involved in re-drafting the Leading Practice Handbook on Mine Rehabilitation, and in the preparation of the Best Practice document on Progressive Mine Rehabilitation and Closure Planning for Queensland. As a research scientist, he has published 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and presented over 100 papers at conferences. As a consultant, he has supervised or carried out studies on soil erosion and its control in the field and laboratory for over 20 years. These studies have included assessments of the effectiveness of a range of hydromulch and soil stabilisation products and their stability to overland flows, polyacrylamide treatment of soil surfaces, effectiveness of a range of flocculants in sediment ponds, vegetation filter strips, and other soil erosion control products.