Professor Claire Cote is Principal Water and Environmental Specialist at Egis in ANZ and an internationally recognised expert in mine environmental and water management. She has extensive experience across industry, research and consulting, applying her academic and technical expertise to improve environmental performance across the mining sector. Her work has focused on mine water management, environmental compliance, sustainable development and mine closure, with experience supporting mining operations in Australia, Canada, Africa and Chile. She previously spent eight years with Anglo American and has held senior research and leadership roles with The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute.

Alexander “Alex” Thin is Asian Chair and Corporate Consultant (Mining) at SRK Consulting, with more than 30 years’ experience across the mining industry in Africa and Australasia. A mining engineer by profession, Alex has extensive operational, technical, consulting and corporate experience across precious metals, base metals and bulk commodities. His expertise includes mineral asset evaluations, feasibility and techno-economic studies, due diligence, independent technical reporting, mergers and acquisitions, mining economics and corporate advisory. Throughout his career, he has provided strategic and technical leadership across mining operations, project development and investment, drawing on extensive international experience.

Brad Radloff has over 30 years’ experience in mine rehabilitation design and construction. He has a Master of Applied Science from Central Queensland University, focused on native species establishment directly on coal tailings in central Queensland. His career includes 17 years in the mining industry in senior environment, mine planning and project management roles.

Dr Ingrid Meek is Principal Technical Lead, Rehabilitation and Reclamation at Okane Consultants. She is a PhD-qualified environmental professional with more than 20 years’ experience in the mining industry, specialising in mine rehabilitation, ecosystem restoration and successful post-mine land uses. Her experience includes major rehabilitation programs at RTA Weipa, ERA Ranger Mine, McArthur River Mining and Groote Eylandt, as well as mine closure and tailings management.

Dr Jason Dunlop is Principal Technical Advisor (Resource Rehabilitation) with the Office of the Queensland Mine Rehabilitation Commissioner and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at The University of Queensland. His work focuses on developing leading practices for mine rehabilitation and closure planning, drawing on extensive experience in environmental assessment, water resource management and regulation. He holds a PhD in Environmental Toxicology from The University of Queensland.

Michael McLeary is Principal Advisor, Closure Planning at Globalscapes Pty Ltd, with more than 30 years’ experience across the mining and resources industry. He specialises in mine and asset closure, rehabilitation, remediation and asset transition, with experience across all Australian jurisdictions and internationally. His career spans consulting, industry and government, providing him with extensive experience across the full resource asset lifecycle.

Sarah McConnell is Principal, Global Closure at BHP, specialising in environmental management, rehabilitation and mine closure. She has more than 13 years’ experience in mining across New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory, with a strong focus on integrated closure planning, post-mine land use and building effective relationships with regulators, communities and operational teams.

Sibasis Acharya is a Director at Citigold Corporation Ltd with more than 20 years’ experience in metallurgy, mineral processing, process engineering and materials science. His expertise spans project development, engineering design, operations, process optimisation and sustainable mineral processing across commodities including gold, copper, nickel, lithium and rare earth elements. He is also an Honorary Industry Fellow at Queensland University of Technology.

Todd Bell is Principal Closure at MMG Limited, specialising in mine rehabilitation, closure and sustainability. His work focuses on helping the resources industry develop and integrate effective rehabilitation and closure programs, and he contributes to industry development through AusIMM, including as a faculty member for the Integrated Mine Closure Professional Certificate and the Life of Mine Conference Advisory Committee.

Vanessa MacDonald is a program and business management professional at Curtin University, with experience across research, education, health and the arts in Australia and the UK. She has managed several Australian Research Council Training Centres, including the ARC Training Centre for Healing Country and the ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration, supporting applied research, industry collaboration and training programs with real-world impact.

Maggie Ng is an Advisor in Sustainability and Environment at MMG Limited, with a focus on environmental management and sustainability within the resources sector. Her professional development spans integrated mine closure, mine water management, environmental management systems and sustainable finance. She also contributes to industry initiatives focused on life-of-mine planning and responsible environmental management.

Agnes Samper is a Senior Research Fellow at The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute, working within the Centre for Environmental Responsibility in Mining. A geologist with international experience across Australia, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Russia and Tanzania, her work focuses on multidisciplinary research supporting the minerals sector, including mine closure, post-mining transitions, water management and critical resources.

Ainsley Ferrier is a Key Account Manager at Deswik and a mining engineer with more than 20 years’ experience in mine planning, predominantly in open cut coal. Her experience spans operational mine planning, consulting and software development, with a particular focus on integrating rehabilitation, mine closure and water management into the mine planning process

Tarah Hagen is Technical Discipline Manager and Technical Director, Toxicology & Risk Assessment at SLR Consulting, with more than 15 years’ experience in human health and ecological risk assessment. She specialises in toxicology, environmental hazard assessment and exposure assessment, supporting mining, industry and government clients on complex environmental and health risks.

Emeritus Professor David Williams is an internationally recognised expert in mine waste management, tailings and mine closure, with more than 50 years’ experience in teaching, research and consulting. At The University of Queensland, he initiated the Geotechnical Engineering Centre and manages the industry-funded Large Open Pit Project. He also provides expert advice and independent technical review of tailings facilities globally and leads AusIMM’s Tailings Management Professional Certificate.

Angélica Amanda Andrade is a researcher and PhD candidate at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining at The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute. Her research focuses on mining safety, tailings management, community participation and disaster prevention. Following the 2019 Brumadinho tailings dam disaster in Brazil, in which she lost her sister, she became an international advocate for safer and more socially responsible mining practices.

Lis Boczek is Group Manager Tailings and Dams at South32, with more than 25 years’ experience in civil and geotechnical engineering. She specialises in mine tailings, mine water storage and management across all stages of project development through to closure and has served as Engineer of Record for a number of tailings dams in Australia.

Edgar Salas is APAC Tailings Service Line Leader at GHD and a geotechnical engineer with around 15 years of international experience. He specialises in the design, evaluation and management of complex tailings dams, with experience across Australia, South Africa, Chile, Papua New Guinea, Venezuela and the UK. His work also contributes to advancing safe and sustainable tailings management practices across the industry.

Dr Hernan Cifuentes is an Independent Tailings Consultant at Tailings HC and Adjunct Associate Professor at The University of Queensland, with more than 20 years’ experience in mining, consulting and research. He specialises in geotechnical and hydraulic engineering for tailings and water management, with international experience across Australia, Canada, Chile, Peru, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia.

Symon Jackson is a Senior Principal Civil, Geotechnical and Tailings Engineer at Geosyntec Consultants, with more than 30 years’ experience in geotechnical and dam engineering. He specialises in tailings dams, mining infrastructure, geotechnical engineering and construction, combining technical design with site-based operational experience, peer review and due diligence. He is also Senior Vice President of Operations for Geosyntec’s Europe, Middle East and Australia region.

Fernanda Maluly Kemeid is Senior Manager, Geotechnical Engineering at Rio Tinto and a civil engineer specialising in tailings management and mining capital projects. She has more than 13 years’ experience across the mining and energy sectors, with expertise in tailings dams, geotechnical risk, project development, governance and operations.

Marcelo Llano is a Senior Principal Geotechnical Engineer at Geosyntec Consultants, specialising in geotechnical engineering for major mining projects in Australia and Papua New Guinea. His expertise includes numerical modelling, tailings and water dams, soil mechanics, liquefaction, risk analysis, field instrumentation and seepage management.

Kathy Tehrani is an Associate Tailings Engineer at ATC Williams in Brisbane with expertise in tailings management, governance, risk assessment and dam safety. Her work includes implementing the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management and site-specific tailings management systems, with a strong focus on improving tailings governance and responsible management practices.

Chenming Zhang is a Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow at The University of Queensland, specialising in mine waste and tailings management. His research focuses on tailings monitoring, environmental sensing, desiccation and water movement, numerical modelling and acid mine drainage, including the development of real-time monitoring technologies for tailings storage facilities.

Professor Andy Fourie is Professor of Civil and Mining Engineering and Director of Future Tails at The University of Western Australia. His research focuses on improving mine tailings management, particularly the stability and safety of tailings storage facilities, using laboratory and field testing, numerical modelling and advanced monitoring techniques. He is internationally recognised for his work on tailings behaviour, liquefaction and reducing the risk of catastrophic tailings failures.

Arun Muhunthan is Principal Engineer and Co-Lead of the Tailings & Dams Technical Community at ATC Williams, with around 20 years’ experience in tailings management. He specialises in tailings dam design, geotechnical engineering, slope stability and liquefaction analysis, life-of-mine planning, water management and closure, and has led a range of complex tailings projects across Australia.

Kristy Ellis is an Exploration Geologist at Gold Fields, with a background in geology, geophysics and marine science. Prior to joining Gold Fields in 2026, she worked as a Graduate Geologist at Rio Tinto and as a Research Assistant at The University of Sydney, where she completed a Bachelor of Science in Geology and Geophysics and Marine Science.

Kevin Spencer is Principal Tailings Engineer in BHP’s Resource Centre of Excellence Global Tailings & Dams team, with more than 20 years’ experience across tailings and water management, research and consulting. His expertise includes tailings governance, risk management, technical assurance, operations and implementation of the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM), supporting BHP operations in Australia and globally.

Ed Tuplin is Principal Advisor, Tailings and Geotechnical Subject Matter Expert for APAC at Rio Tinto. He is an experienced tailings and dam engineer specialising in tailings and water management across the full asset lifecycle, from planning and design through to construction, operations and closure. His experience spans mining operations and consulting projects across Australia, Asia, Africa, Central America and the UK.

Joe Rola is a Principal Consultant specialising in Tailings and Mine Waste at SRK Consulting, with more than 20 years’ experience in tailings storage facilities, mine waste, heap leach and power generation waste. His expertise spans the full project lifecycle, from concept and detailed design through construction, operations and closure, with experience across Australia, Southeast Asia and North America.

Gideon Steyl is Lead Technical Governance Tailings at South32, with extensive engineering experience across tailings, mine waste and mine planning. He specialises in tailings governance, dam engineering, tailings storage facility management, mine closure, geotechnical engineering and water management, with experience spanning projects from concept through to closure.

Mark Chapman is Managing Director and Geotechnical Engineer at Insitu Geotech Services. He has close to 20 years’ engineering experience and specialises in geotechnical and in-situ testing, including investigations of soft soils and tailings. His background spans geotechnical engineering, piling and site investigation, supporting mining and infrastructure projects across Australia.

Dr Morteza Ghamgosar is a Principal Engineer at Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited, with more than 20 years’ experience in geotechnical engineering. He specialises in major underground projects, tailings facilities, dams and rock mechanics, with extensive experience across planning, design, construction, operations, risk assessment and geotechnical modelling.

Kyle Smith is a geotechnical engineering professional at WSP in Australia, based in Perth. His background includes advanced geotechnical engineering studies at UNSW, and he is professionally registered as a Chartered Professional Engineer and Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland.

Chris Dickinson is Principal Hydrogeologist and founder of Ground & Water Australia, with more than 30 years’ experience in hydrogeology. He specialises in mining and mine waste projects, including tailings hydrogeology, seepage assessment, groundwater management, technical review and independent expert work. His experience includes multidisciplinary review of tailings storage facilities and mine closure projects.