Panels

Dr Alan Robertson is the Independent Chairperson for the Independent Panel of Experts for both the McArthur River Mine Northern Overburden Emplacement Facility (NOEF) and Tailings Storage Facility (TSF).

Dr Robertson has a wide range of technical skills related to the mining industry and is focusing on coordinating a technical review of the geochemistry of the waste rock, surface and ground water quality, and geotechnical aspects of the NOEF in terms of construction, performance and rehabilitation.

Education

• HND  Pure and Applied Chemistry, Caledonian University, 1988
• PhD. Pure and Applied Chemistry, University of Strathclyde, 1992

Professional designation and memberships

• Member Royal Society of Chemistry, Chartered Chemist
• Member – Australian Institute of Minerals and Metallurgy (AusIMM)
• Member – Australian Institute of Company Directors

Skills

Dr Robertson has over thirty years of 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 and is regularly called upon to peer review AMD work completed by other consultants.

Alan has 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 managing potential downstream impacts of mining activities and project specific mitigation measures.

Dr Robertson is regularly called upon to provide Independent Expert Witness services related to legal matters on behalf of both mining companies and Regulators.  Services include advice, expert witness reports, and expert witness evidence in court proceedings.

Over the past eight years, Alan has worked closely with Basil Beamish of B3 Mining Services to provide combined geochemical and spontaneous combustion services to mining operations, particularly related to mine material management and rehabilitation.  While the focus of this work is on carbonaceous materials at coal mines, Alan also has experience in the management of spontaneous combustion events at metalliferous mines in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Dr Robertson regularly participates in environmental geochemistry mining conference organizing and technical committees, and peer reviewed the current Australian Government leading practice guidance document for prevention of AMD.

In summary, Alan is a leader in the field of mine waste geochemistry, mine water management, spontaneous combustion and mine rehabilitation from project inception through to closure and has presented over 50 papers at international conferences and has published these in technical proceedings over the past thirty years.

Chris Dickinson is a key member of the 3 Independent Panel of Experts for McArthur River Mine Northern Overburden Emplacement Facility (NOEF), Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) and Mine Closure.

Chris has a wide range of technical skills related to the mining industry and is focusing on the hydrogeological aspects of the NOEF in terms of construction, performance and rehabilitation.

Education

• B.App.Sc. (Geology), University of Ballarat, 1993
• B.App.Sc. Honours (Hydrogeology), University of Ballarat 1996

Professional designation and memberships

• Fellow of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (FAIG), RPGeo (Hydrogeology) – Registered Professional Geoscientist with the (AIG), and current Director of the AIG.
• Member of the Australian Chapter of the IAH (MIAH)
• Member of the Closure Planning Practitioners Association (MCPPA)

Skills

Chris has over 30 years’ experience as a geologist, nearly all of which as a consulting hydrogeologist in Australia, Asia, the Pacific and Canada. He is registered as a professional geoscientist (RPGeo (Hydrogeology)) with the AIG, and is a member of the Australian Chapter of the IAH.

His experience includes hydrogeological conceptualisation, dewatering / depressurisation design and water control, water balances, borefield development and management (extraction and injection) including regulatory performance reviews, monitoring networks for approvals and compliance – their design, installation and instrumentation, seepage mitigation design (esp. tailings dams and waste rock dumps), tailings dam hydrogeology for each of dam performance and stability, and long term distal seepage fate, aquifer injection studies, supporting design for geotechnical, geochemical and environmental projects, bore performance and rehabilitation, hydrochemistry and water balances.

Chris has successfully led numerous multi-disciplinary geoscience and engineering teams on major projects within Australia and internationally and has also fulfilled senior managerial roles. Chris is a past President and current Director of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and is a passionate advocate for accreditation and professional standards in the hydrogeological community, and for mentoring and assistance with career development for emerging hydrogeology professionals.

Chris has provided technical direction and review on numerous hydrogeological projects internationally and has completed competent independent review, expert witness services, forensic review of two TSF failures, and has current review board experience (tailings and pit slope hydrogeology).

Mr Dickionson has substantial leadership experience and brings strong consulting business acumen to project delivery.

David Jones is a key member of the Independent Panel of Experts for the McArthur River Mine Northern Overburden Emplacement Facility (NOEF) and Tailings Storage Facility (TSF).

David has a wide range of technical skills related to the mining industry and is focusing on the geochemistry of the waste and the surface and ground water quality aspects of the NOEF in terms of construction, performance and rehabilitation.

Education

• B.Sc. (Hons) Inorganic Chemistry, James Cook University, 1977
• PhD. Inorganic Chemistry, James Cook University, 1982

Professional designation and memberships

• Industry Fellow in Sustainable Minerals Institute of University of Queensland – since March 2023
• Member Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Chartered Chemist
• Associate – AusIMM
• Member – International Mine Water Association

Skills

Dr Jones has Honours and PhD degrees in Inorganic Chemistry. He has 40 years’ experience in the environmental assessment and management of water quality issues across the gold and base metal mining and energy (coal, coal seam and shale gas, uranium) sectors in Australia and internationally. He has held senior positions in research (CSIRO), industry (Rio Tinto), and government (Commonwealth Department of the Environment), and is now the Principal of his own consulting business (DR Jones Environmental Excellence). This range of experience enables him to bring a broad perspective to often controversial environmental issues.

His research and consulting activities have focused on identifying the geochemical and biological processes controlling the release and subsequent transport and fate of inorganic contaminants from the mining, minerals processing and related industries. A particular strength is a systems approach that integrates the physical, chemical and biological components of environmental problems. He has led and participated in numerous investigations of the impacts of mining and energy production on water quality and health of aquatic ecosystems, in devising and implementing treatment systems for mine waters, in developing decommissioning and closure plans and providing technical peer review of documents and reports produced by others.

Dr Jones was based in Darwin between 1997 and 2012. During this 16 year period and subsequently he has developed a sound appreciation of the aspirations of traditional peoples and the complexities that are involved with land management issues, especially in relation to sites impacted by mining-related activities (for example, closure planning for the Woodcutters Mine, rehabilitation planning for Rum Jungle and Sandy Flat, and rehabilitation of old uranium mining sites in the South Alligator valley). He is also very familiar with mining environment management related issues elsewhere in the Territory having done work in the Pine Ck region and Tennant Ck.

Dr Jones’ professional standing is recognised by regular invitations to participate in mining environment-related conference organising committees, and by his membership of national and international steering committees oversighting the production of best practice guidance for mining environmental management.”.

Mike O’Kane is a key member of the Independent Panel of Experts for the McArthur River Mine Northern Overburden Emplacement Facility (NOEF).

Mike has a wide range of technical skills related to the mining industry and is focusing on the geotechnical aspects of the NOEF in terms of construction, performance and rehabilitation.

Education

• M.Sc. Geotechnical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, 1995
• B.Sc. Civil Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, 1992

Professional designation and memberships

• Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut
• Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
• Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
• American Society of Mining and Reclamation for Mining Engineering

Skills

Mike O’Kane founded Okane Consultants in 1996, a company providing holistic mine closure and relinquishment services to the mining industry internationally.

Mike continues to work with Okane as a senior technical advisor, using his wide-ranging technical expertise and knowledge on risk management best practices as tools for development and communication of project objectives and designs. He is an expert on the application of unsaturated zone hydrology and geochemistry for mine waste management.

Mike provides independent peer review to mine operators and owners, as well as government agencies, and is a member of a number of closure planning and/or technical advisory panels. Mike is the lead author on numerous documents pertaining to cover system design, implementation and performance monitoring. Mike provides landform and cover system design workshops/short courses at leading mine waste management conferences around the world. Mike is invited to present these same courses to mine site owners and operators as well as Government agencies.

Mike is a director of the Landform Design Institute and chair of its Technical Advisory Panel.

In 2014 Mike received the University of Saskatchewan Alumni Achievement Award in 2014 for “Global Development of his Business and Corporation, and Philanthropy”.

Tim Fitton is a member of the Independent Panel of Experts for the McArthur River Mine Tailings Storage Facility (TSF).

Tim has a wide range of technical skills related to the mining industry and is focusing on the management and storage of tailings at the McArthur River Mine.

Education

• BE Civil (Hons) Swinburne University, 1998
• PhD. Chemical Engineering, RMIT University, 2007

Professional designation and memberships

• Chartered Professional Engineer – Australian Institute of Engineers

Skills

Dr Fitton has Honours and PhD degrees in engineering.  He has 27 years’ experience in the engineering, management and construction of Tailings Storage Facilities and their related infrastructure.  He has also been involved with capping of tailings storage facilities at numerous mine sites.  He has worked on tailings storage projects in more than 15 countries, and is now the Principal of his own consulting business (Fitton Tailings Consultants).

His PhD research focused on the depositional behaviour of tailings slurries and the resultant beach slopes formed in tailings storage facilities.  He has published more than 30 peer-reviewed technical papers on this topic and other tailings related topics, and has been an author of two books on tailings.  He has also served as a technical reviewer for more than 10 international tailings conferences, and has delivered keynote addresses at international tailings conferences as well.

Dr Fitton has worked on several mining projects in the Northern Territory between 2007 and 2025, including the Ranger Uranium Mine, the Browns Oxide Mine (near Rum Jungle), Union Reef Mine, and others in the Pine Creek region. During this 18 year period he has developed some appreciation of the traditional owners’ rights and expectations, and the geographic diversity that exists in the NT.

Dr Fitton’s professional standing is recognised by regular invitations to participate in tailings conference technical review committees in various countries, and by his involvement with various mines as a tailings expert.

Dr Carl Grant is the Independent Chairperson for the Independent Panel of Experts for McArthur River Mine Closure.

Dr Grant has a wide range of technical skills related particularly to mine closure and rehabilitation and is focusing on coordinating a technical review to advise the government and the community regarding the status of closure strategies for McArthur River Mine and an assessment of progress towards achieving agreed closure objectives.

Education

• First Class Honours Degree - Double Major in Botany and Zoology, The University of Western Australia 1993
• Doctor of Philosophy - Botany, The University of Western Australia 1997

Professional designation and memberships

• Member - Australian Institute of Minerals and Metallurgy (AusIMM)
• Member - Australian Institute of Company Directors

Skills

Dr Grant has almost 30 years experience in the mining industry globally, with a focus on mine closure and rehabilitation. He lectured at the University of New England for five years after completing his Doctorate on fire ecology in Alcoa’s rehabilitated bauxite mines in Western Australia. During his time as an academic, he developed one of the first focused units on ecosystem rehabilitation and supervised more than 50 research students.

In 2001, he took up a position in Alcoa’s research department and made the switch to operational mining roles in 2004. He was Environment and Community Manager for Alcoa’s mining operations in WA for five years. During this time, he drove the process of obtaining a closure certificate of acceptance for the Jarrahdale Mine. Carl then moved to Anglo American’s Met Coal operations in 2011 to the position of Regional Environment Manager responsible for nine operating sites and nine projects in Qld, NSW and British Columbia (Canada).

In 2014, he took up a Corporate position with Anglo as Global Head of Mine Closure Planning working in diverse commodities (base metals, coal, copper, diamonds, iron ore & platinum) at more than 60 operations around the world (Australia, Botswana, Brasil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Namibia, Peru, South Africa & Zimbabwe). Dr Grant was the primary author of the Anglo Mine Closure Toolbox (v3) that was made publicly available in 2019.

Carl left Anglo in 2022 and became a Director and Principal of Unearthed Environmental Services (UES), a bespoke consultancy company he co-owns. Clients have included ArcelorMittal, BHP, Fortescue, Glencore, Newmont, Newcrest, Peabody, Rio Tinto, South32, ICMM, AusIMM, and the NT and Queensland Government, with work conducted in Africa, Australia, Europe, South and North America.

Projects have focused on facilitating risk/opportunity/closure vision workshops, development of closure standards and associated guidelines, development and review of completion criteria, development of the AusIMM Professional Certificate in Integrated Mine Closure, development and review of closure costs and associated models, independent review of mine closure plans, closure maturity assessments for publicly available guidance such as the ICMM Closure Good Practice Guideline, progressive certification of rehabilitation and being an expert witness.

Dr Grant is extensively published in national and international literature and a renowned conference keynote and panel member (six book chapters, over 50 refereed publications and over 40 conference papers).

Dr Sheridan Coakes is a key member of the Independent Panel of Experts for McArthur River Mine Closure.

Dr Coakes is a social scientist who has extensively applied her knowledge and skills in natural resource management and within the extractive industry sector across Australia. She has a sound knowledge of planning legislation and policy and understanding of the ‘public interest’, including the application of frameworks for addressing social impacts in both project/operational planning and decision-making.

Education

Doctor of Philosophy (Psychology), Curtin University, WA (1995)

Bachelor of Applied Science (Psychology) First Class Honours, Curtin University, WA (1991)

Professional designation and memberships

Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand (EIANZ) - Convenor of the SIA Community of Practice

Certified Environmental Practitioners Scheme, Chair Strategic Environmental Advisory Committee (SIA)

Member, International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA)

Commissioner, NSW Independent Planning Commission

Skills

Dr Sheridan Coakes is a social scientist and practitioner with 30 years’ experience in the application of social impact and community engagement practice in project and operational planning and decision making.

Sheridan has been Director and Principal of Coakes Consulting since 1998 and has had an extensive consulting background, also holding the role of National Social Practice Lead for Umwelt Australia from 2013. Her national social consulting practice developed largely out of a need for companies/agencies to address social and economic issues in large scale project and policy development, and followed on from Sheridan’s role with the Commonwealth Government in designing and implementing the social assessment methodology for the Australian regional forest agreement process - one of the most significant applications of social impact assessment by government at a national level. She also subsequently worked with the Bureau of Resource Sciences in Canberra in a Research Scientist role, applying social science thinking to natural resource management issues.

Dr Coakes has applied her work extensively in the extractive industry sector, working with some of the most prominent extractive industry companies in Australia, that include: BHP, Glencore, Fortescue Metals Group, Alcoa, Rio Tinto, Cameco, Chevron, Woodside, South32, IGO, MMG, and Idemitsu. This work has aimed to institutionalise and integrate consideration of social impacts in managing and enhancing the effects of planned change from project development through to closure; and in ensuring that communities have a genuine voice in these processes. She is a strong advocate for the use of social research and social data-driven approaches to enhance the effectiveness and fairness of decision-making processes that facilitate greater distributive equity and improve social and community outcomes.

Dr Coakes has published extensively in her field, contributing to 5 international texts and authoring numerous journal articles and conference presentations on SIA, community engagement and social research methodologies. She has developed and facilitated training modules in her areas of expertise for both industry and government; and has worked with government agencies in developing appropriate guidance on SIA and engagement practice nationally.

Sheridan convenes the SIA Community of Practice for the Environmental Institute of Australia and Aotearoa (NZ) and in 2023/24 was instrumental in the development of the first SIA certification program globally, in her role as Chair of the SIA Strategic Environmental Advisory Committee for the Certified Environmental Practitioners (CEnvP) Scheme.

She is currently a Commissioner on the NSW Independent Planning Commission in her second term (the determining authority for state significant developments of scale and contention across NSW); is often called upon to provide expert witness testimony in her practice area; serves on several expert advisory panels; and co-facilitates the social transition module for AusIMM’s Professional Certificate in Integrated Mine Closure.

Mr Tim Sharman is a key member of the Independent Panel of Experts for McArthur River Mine Closure.

Tim has more than 23 years of experience in the mining industry in a variety of technical and senior management roles across 6 continents and various commodities.

Education and memberships

Bachelor of Engineering (Mining)

Australian Institute of Minerals and Metallurgy (AusIMM)

Skills

Tim brings a comprehensive skill set, encompassing project development and commissioning, operations, technical services and strategic planning, studies, sustainability initiatives, and effective management of multi-disciplinary teams.

Tim has led sustainability and mine closure planning initiatives within numerous corporate roles, identifying and realising substantial value (in excessive of USD$1.5Bn) and driving effective outcomes.

David Salmon is a key member of the Independent Panel of Experts for McArthur River Mine Closure.

David has a wide range of technical skills related to mining, mine water and mine environmental management. He will be focusing on all aspects of mine water management and specifically on the pit lake and pit void.

Education

B.Sc. (Hons) Geology, University of Southampton, England.1974

M.Sc. Micropalaeontology, University College, University of London. 1975.

Professional designation and membership

Australian Institute of Minerals and Metallurgy (AusIMM)

International Mine Water Association

Skills

David has over 40 years’ experience as a geologist and environmental engineer in the mining industry, 26 years with Anglo American Plc and 17 years in consulting with Golder Associates, Amanzi Consulting and LWR Consulting Services.

His experience in water management has been in a variety of commodities including coal, gold, copper, iron ore, lead, zinc, mineral sands, platinum, quarries, and paper and pulp operations. He has worked in operations in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Lao, China, Borneo, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Alaska, Russia, Chile, Brazil, Ireland, and England.

David provides independent expert review to mine operators, government and legal agencies on all aspects of mine water management. He uses technical expertise, best practice and risk management practices to assess water and closure management plans during operation, closure and post-closure.

He has served as a technical reviewer for many International Mine Water Association (IMWA) conferences and publications and has published in national and international literature.

David was researcher and author of the ACARP report guidelines for opencast coal mine void closure and relinquishment.

David has served as expert witness to the Queensland Land Court for disputes on mine rehabilitation, and planned land use changes from coal mining operations to pit final void use as a landfill.