About

meet us

Our team

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  Asitha Jayasinghe

  Graduate Geoscientist

  Asitha has completed a double degree in Civil Engineering (Honours) and Environmental Science at Queensland University of Technology. He has experience in the mining industry through his vacation work at the zinc and copper mines at Mount Isa for Glencore. He has assessed heavy metal contamination throughout the lease by the Environmental Authority criteria by sampling, processing and analysing field data.

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  Dr Ben Freidman

  Senior Geoscientist

  Ben has a PhD in the remediation of contaminated land from The University of Melbourne and over 8 years’ professional experience in environmental consulting and regulation, both nationally and internationally. As part of his PhD, Ben designed hydrocarbon remediation infrastructure for installation at Australia’s Antarctic stations, with his research into nutrient-amended zeolites and biological activated carbon being awarded the Postgraduate Water Prize at the Australian Water Association Victorian Water Awards in 2015. Ben has published 13 peer-reviewed articles and presented his industry research at the 2015 Asia-Pacific Confederation of Chemical Congress, 2016 Royal Society of Chemistry Ion Exchange Conference and 2017 CleanUp Conference. Ben is an experienced project manager and specialises in detailed contaminated site assessment and remediation design for numerous industries, including mining and coal seam gas, state and federal government, and upstream and downstream petroleum clients. Ben has extensive shallow and deep groundwater well installation experience to inform hydrogeochemical assessments. Ben is passionate about supporting clients to cost-effectively manage per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and understands the regulatory reporting requirements around this ubiquitous contaminant of concern.

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  Patti-Anne Burgess

  Administration Officer

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  Dr Przemek Nalecki

  Associate - Principal Modeller

  Dr Przemek Nalecki is an independent hydrogeologist and petroleum engineer. He has over 20 years of experience in hydrogeology and 8 years in petroleum engineering, including working for academia, consulting and the oil and gas industry. He is currently the managing director at Energy & Water Pty Ltd. Przemek’s hydrogeology experience includes projects from Australia, Europe, South-East Asia, Pacific and South America. He has extensive knowledge and experience in constructing groundwater & surface water conceptual and numerical models for mine water management, mine dewatering, water supply and water balance projects, broad range of decision support models as well as probabilistic modelling and statistical analyses. Przemek has extensive experience in uncertainty analyses, Monte Carlo simulations and integration of these methods within GoldSim package. He is also an author and co-author of a number of papers discussing application of GoldSim to mine water management projects. Some of those papers are referenced in the GoldSim technical papers library.

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  Priya Rajendran

  Graduate Geoscientist

  Priya has recently completed her master’s degree in Environmental Engineering and Pollution Control at Griffith University. She has previously worked in a bioenergy laboratory whilst pursuing her thesis in analysing the effects of organic loading rate on anaerobic digestion of rum distillery wastewater. Through her studies, Priya has gained strong knowledge in waste management, water treatment and site remediation and rehabilitation. She is looking forward to learn and familiarise herself with soil science and geochemistry while contributing all her experience and learnings.

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  Peter Long

  Consultant Geoscientist

  Peter graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Geology (Honours) from the University of Queensland. Peter has a background in geology and geochemistry, including the impact of microorganisms on the geochemistry of deposits and waste rock dumps. Peter specialises in the collation of data, CAD and computer aided modelling using the Deswik software suite and GIS.

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  Dr Alan Robertson

  Director and Principal Geochemist

  Alan has over twenty-five years industrial and consulting experience in completing geochemical and Acid and Metalliferous Drainage (AMD) projects for the mining and mineral processing industry. He has provided input into a wide variety of studies for major mining companies ranging from stand-alone reports to integral components of Feasibility Studies. He has worked on projects in Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe and South America and is regularly called upon to Peer Review AMD work completed by other consultants. Alan has particular expertise in mine waste characterisation, development of AMD management plans, and design of mine waste storage facilities from project conception through to mine closure. He has experience of potential downstream impacts of mining activities and project specific mitigation measures. Alan is also an experienced Environmental Auditor and regularly assists clients with due diligence and compliance audits.

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  Dr Melinda Hilton

  Consultant Geochemist

  Melinda has completed a PhD in Environmental Geochemistry at the Sustainable Mineral Institute at the University of Queensland, which involved the characterisation of coal mine spoil and an assessment of salt leaching rates for different types of spoil over time. She has also completed a BSc honours in Environmental Science, at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, majoring in geology and chemistry. The honours thesis was an analytical study of environmentally hazardous trace elements in thermal and coking coal. Melinda has worked extensively under the microscope, in plane-polarised and reflected light, as well as SEM. Her technical experience also includes small and medium scale leaching experiments with mine wastes, including developing new methods in the use of tracers to measure water residence times and detect the presence of preferential flow paths. Melinda has been a strong connections with the land rehabilitation industry and has written and presented material in her field of expertise at several conference events. Melinda's recently published article: Hilton, M and M. Shaygan, N Mcintyre, T Baumgartl, M. Edraki, (2019) The effect of weathering on salt release from coal mine spoils. Minerals 2019, 9(12), 760.

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  Dr Matt Landers

  Principal Hydrogeochemist

  Matt has over 15 years’ experience in project management, development, implementation and delivery of multi-disciplinary programs for mining and energy industries. Matt specialises in the hydro-geochemical characterisation of mine waste and development of solutions for mine waste and water management for projects from concept through to Closure. Matt has extensive experience in constructing hydro-geochemical models for the assessment of acid and metalliferous/ saline drainage, surface and groundwater quality assessments, waste storage facilities and final void/ pit lakes. Matt is also experienced in design, modelling and performance monitoring of Closure options (e.g. mine waste cover systems, final voids/ pit lakes and waste storage facilities). His experience extends throughout projects in Australia, Laos, Peru, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Philippines, Indonesia and New Caledonia. In addition, Matt has co-authored over thirty peer reviewed international journal articles or conference outputs.

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  Veronica Canales

  Laboratory Manager

  Veronica has over 15 years experience working in geochemical laboratories, managing environmental data and reporting. Veronica currently manages all geochemical and mineralogical data at the RGS laboratory in Brisbane.