Maroochy Barambah is an Aboriginal Elder from Brisbane, Australia. She is of Turrbal and Gubbi Gubbi ancestry with additional bloodline connections to Wakka Wakka, Kamilaroi and Birri Gubba Country. Maroochy was born on Cherbourg Aboriginal Reserve in South East Queensland. She is the Songwoman and Law-woman of the Turrbal Tribe. Maroochy attended the Melba Conservatorium of Music in Melbourne and the Victorian College of the Arts where she graduated in Dramatic Arts. Maroochy has had extensive involvement in the Aboriginal community over the last 5 decades. She has delivered several lectures on Aboriginal culture at various institutions and was a keynote speaker at the Australian Reconciliation Convention in Melbourne. In 1989, Maroochy made her operatic debut playing the lead role in Black River where she became the first Aboriginal person to perform on the Australian operatic stage. Black River, which focuses on black deaths in custody, won the 1993 Grand Prix Opera Screen Award in Paris. Later in 1993, Maroochy became the first Australian to perform at the United Nations in New York in honour of the International Year for the World’s Indigenous Peoples. In 2014, she performed the traditional Welcome to Country Ceremony at the Brisbane G20 Summit with world leaders such as Barack Obama and David Cameron in attendance. Maroochy appeared in the Indigenous musical Bran Nue Dae, the television series Women of the Sun, and in the opera Beach Dreaming (written for and about her by Mark Isaacs). Maroochy also released two singles, one of which, Mongungi, reached the top 10 on the U.S. Billboard Dance chart. Maroochy has received many awards, both in Australia and overseas. She hopes to continue working in the area of the performing arts, while at the same time engendering a better understanding of Aboriginal culture.

Professor David Williams initiated and directs the Geotechnical Engineering Centre at The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and also manages the industry-funded Large Open Pit Project. He has over 40 years of teaching, research and consulting experience. He is internationally recognised for his expertise and experience in mine waste management and mine closure, in particular the design, construction, operation, closure and rehabilitation of tailings dams and waste rock dumps, including the design of covers, on which he has delivered a number of invited Keynote Lectures. He was on the Expert Panel investigating the technical causes of the fatal Brumadinho tailings dam failure in Brazil in 2019 and serves on a number of Independent Technical Reviews Boards for Tailings Facilities in Australia and internationally.

A member since 1998, Mark has been involved in AusIMM branch, society, conference / workshop and Award committees. Mark has supported professional development and standards through mentoring programs and the presentation of papers, talks and training at conferences and online platforms, including facilitation of the well-received online JORC Code reporting course. A Fellow and Chartered Professional (Geoscience), Mark’s contribution in the consulting sector was recognised with the AusIMM Charles Marshall Professional Excellence Award in 2019. As a recognised leader in the consulting industry, Mark has held Board roles within various consulting companies since 2009, including Managing Director of Xstract Mining Consultants (2009-2012), Director of SRK (Australasia) in 2016, Chair and a Practice Leader in 2017, Director and Exco member of SRK (Global) in 2018, Managing Director of SRK (Australasia) 2019-2022, Director of SRK (Asia) in 2020, and Group Chair of SRK (Global) (2021-2022). Mark was elected to the AusIMM Board from 2021 and contributes to the Board and AusIMM members through his broad industry and professional services experience, contracting and governance exposure, familiarity with marketing and professional development activities, and in particular his interpersonal and communication style.

Glenn Butcher is the Minister for Regional Development and Manufacturing and Minister for Water in the Queensland Government. He is committed to driving economic growth and job creation in regional Queensland and supporting the state’s manufacturing and water sectors, which are vital to growing and diversifying Queensland’s economy and creating the jobs of the future. Glenn has previously served as the Assistant Minister for Treasury, Assistant Minister for Transport and Infrastructure and Assistant Minister for Local Government and Infrastructure. He also served as Chair of the Agriculture and Environment Committee and as a Member of the Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources Committee. Prior to his election, Glenn completed his apprenticeship as a fitter and turner and spent 21 years with Queensland Alumina Limited in various positions, including as a tradesman, mechanical supervisor and maintenance superintendent where he oversaw over 100 staff and an $85 million budget. He has represented the state electorate of Gladstone in the Queensland Parliament since 2015.

Christopher N. Hatton, MS, PE, is a Senior Vice President I, Geotechnical Engineer, and Technical Fellow with the Lakewood, Colorado, USA Office of WSP. Mr. Hatton entered the engineering consulting industry in the early 1980s and has compiled 35 years of continuous diversified heavy civil and environmental professional engineering experience. He has and continues to serve as the Engineer of Record (EoR), project manager, and technical lead for evaluating, designing, and constructing new, active, and closed tailing storage facilities (TSFs) worldwide. Chris has spent much of his 35 years of experience evaluating, implementing, and constructing designs at closed TSFs worldwide. He understands the balance between geotechnical stability, surface water management, and establishing environmentally sustainable inert landforms while considering post-closure operation and maintenance costs. His approach considers alignment with ESG sustainability principles and climate transition. His closure experience includes the reclamation of over 10,000 acres of tailing with an estimated volume of over 2 billion tons. Chris was a codeveloper of a state-of-the-art stewardship program to reduce owners’ risks in the design, operation, and closure of TSFs. This outstanding program, conceived in 1994, has been continuously implemented and improved to address the complex stewardship challenges of TSFs worldwide. The program is designed to train operations personnel in properly constructing TSFs and provides the framework for evaluating, prioritizing, and implementing risk reduction strategies. This stewardship program has been successfully implemented at over 30 base and precious-metal mines worldwide. Mr. Hatton has trained more than 1,200 tailing operators and inspected over 10 billion tons of tailings covering over 50,000 acres. Mr. Hatton is a founding member of the USSD/CDA EoR Committee dedicated to establishing the state of the practice for the EoR. This includes conducting training (numerous recent engagements) and advocating for and defining the role of the EoR consistent with industry standards, such as GISTM, CDA, MAC, ANCOLD, ICMM, ICOLD, GBA, and others. Chris is also an active contributor to multiple Tailings Review Boards for world-class mining companies. Chris co-authored three chapters of SME’s Tailings Management Handbook: A Life-Cycle Approach. First Edition (2022) was a co-author for the Geo-Professional Business Association (GBA) Guidance for EoR and is a continuous contributor to other industry cornerstone documents.

Chris Langton joined KCB in 2004, and advanced his technical experience in the oil sands mines of northern Alberta, and his management career by leading the hydrogeology group in KCB’s Alberta business unit. Chris was promoted to Principal in 2008 and following a move to Australia, has led KCB’s Australasia business unit since 2018. Chris manages multi-disciplinary teams for mine feasibility, operations and closure studies, and participates in due diligence assessments for mining and financial institutions. He has experience in mine water balance studies, mine dewatering and depressurization, seepage management systems including groundwater interception or cut-off wall designs, water budgets for tailings impoundment facilities and waste rock dumps, and mine closure plans and liability assessments. Across the globe, Chris has worked in Australasia, Papua New Guinea, Canada, Russia, South America and South Africa. His key projects include the Hidden Valley and Lihir gold mines in Papua New Guinea, several mines in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory of Australia, and in Canada, the Ekati diamond mine in the Northwest Territories and a variety of oil sands mines in Alberta.

Malcolm has 48 years of civil engineering experience in the design, construction and safety of dams, hydropower projects, canals and tailings dams. He has participated in many dam projects in Australia, Canada, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and China. He has been involved in the design and construction of Embankment, Rockfill, RCC and concrete dams and HEP projects as well as Tailings dam planning and design for upstream and downstream construction and application of risk assessment for upgrade designs. Malcolm has also served in different capacities in the Australian National Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD) and was one of the members revising the 2003 Risk Assessment Guidelines. Malcolm is a seconded member of the ICOLD Levee Technical Committee.

Angelica is an international speaker and community representative from Brumadinho, Brazil. Following the dam failure in 2019 where her sister was one of the 272 victims, she became an activist for justice, change, social responsibility and prioritizing of safety in the mining sector. She has spoken in several countries and events, including being a key-note speaker at the UN-supported PRI in Person in 2019 and shortly after that being in a European advocacy campaign where she met with several political representatives working on the issues of human rights and mining in particular, as well as with human rights defenders in Germany, Holland, Belgium. In London, she spoke at the Summit on Global Mining and Tailings Safety on the eve of the first anniversary of the tragedy. Angelica was also a guest speaker at the Global Launch Event of the New Industry Standard on Tailings Management. Since 2019 she has been a member of Avabrum, and in 2021 I was invited to join the UN Global Tailings Management Institute Advisory Panel for the formation and establishment of the Global Tailings Management Institute. In 2022 she delivered presentations on “the social cost of tailings management” in Brisbane. Recently she was invited to join the new Global Investor Comission on Mining 2030 and was accepted for an mphil at the University of Queensland to do a research on “tailings failures and community consultation - pathways to disaster prevention".

Lis has over 25 years experience in a wide range of civil and geotechnical engineering projects servicing mining, industrial and local government clients. She possesses particular experience in the area of mine tailings and mine water storage and management applications for all project development stages including closure. Lis has been Engineer of Record for a number of tailings dams in Australia.

Christopher N. Hatton, MS, PE, is a Senior Vice President I, Geotechnical Engineer, and Technical Fellow with the Lakewood, Colorado, USA Office of WSP. Mr. Hatton entered the engineering consulting industry in the early 1980s and has compiled 35 years of continuous diversified heavy civil and environmental professional engineering experience. He has and continues to serve as the Engineer of Record (EoR), project manager, and technical lead for evaluating, designing, and constructing new, active, and closed tailing storage facilities (TSFs) worldwide. Chris has spent much of his 35 years of experience evaluating, implementing, and constructing designs at closed TSFs worldwide. He understands the balance between geotechnical stability, surface water management, and establishing environmentally sustainable inert landforms while considering post-closure operation and maintenance costs. His approach considers alignment with ESG sustainability principles and climate transition. His closure experience includes the reclamation of over 10,000 acres of tailing with an estimated volume of over 2 billion tons. Chris was a codeveloper of a state-of-the-art stewardship program to reduce owners’ risks in the design, operation, and closure of TSFs. This outstanding program, conceived in 1994, has been continuously implemented and improved to address the complex stewardship challenges of TSFs worldwide. The program is designed to train operations personnel in properly constructing TSFs and provides the framework for evaluating, prioritizing, and implementing risk reduction strategies. This stewardship program has been successfully implemented at over 30 base and precious-metal mines worldwide. Mr. Hatton has trained more than 1,200 tailing operators and inspected over 10 billion tons of tailings covering over 50,000 acres. Mr. Hatton is a founding member of the USSD/CDA EoR Committee dedicated to establishing the state of the practice for the EoR. This includes conducting training (numerous recent engagements) and advocating for and defining the role of the EoR consistent with industry standards, such as GISTM, CDA, MAC, ANCOLD, ICMM, ICOLD, GBA, and others. Chris is also an active contributor to multiple Tailings Review Boards for world-class mining companies. Chris co-authored three chapters of SME’s Tailings Management Handbook: A Life-Cycle Approach. First Edition (2022) was a co-author for the Geo-Professional Business Association (GBA) Guidance for EoR and is a continuous contributor to other industry cornerstone documents.

Stephen has 35 years of experience in the mining and dams industries within Australia and internationally. He has worked on mining and water projects in Australia and internationally including environmental approvals, due diligence, feasibility studies, risk assessments, site investigations, design, refurbishment, construction and closure of facilities. This is for both tailings and water dams. Stephen has worked for a number of mining companies leading governance and assurance programs to safely manage their tailings facilities. He has held positions within the Australian National Committee for Large Dams (ANCOLD) and the International Commission for Large Dams (ICOLD).

Matthew has over 30 years’ civil engineering experience with specific experience in heavy civil engineering projects including road, rail, water dam, residues dam, bridge and tunnel projects. Managing roles and administration roles have included Design Manager, Study Lead and Resident Engineer roles as well as experience as Contracts Engineer and Program and Scheduling Engineer on major projects. Design roles range from the lead designer, designer of record, reviewer, proof engineer, value engineering lead and peer reviewer. Construction supervision experiences includes roads, bridges, pipelines, dams, hydropower plants and tunnels. Tailings dam design experience includes the feasibility and detailed design of embankment raises and new greenfield dams complete with foundation assessments and modelling including the identification of potentially liquefiable layers within the foundation. Deposition modelling for new and existing facilities and closure design for existing facilities has been undertaken using software packages specific to these requirements. Water dam design experience covers the geotechnical modelling of foundations, grout curtain design and execution with focus on adjusting grout parameters on site to suit geotechnical conditions. New designs or upgrades of CFRD, Concrete Gravity, and Zoned Earthfill/Rockfill dams have been undertaken for water supply or residue disposal. Spillway and outlet works designs for new and existing dams have included structural designs, multi-strand anchoring optimisation and design, hydraulic assessments and hydromechanical design and equipment selection inputs.