Session 3D - Building resilient landforms Part 1
Life of Mine
Tuesday, July 29, 2025 |
1:40 PM - 3:20 PM |
Speaker
Mr Bradley Radloff
Technical Director - Asset Transition And Closure
SLR Consulting
Progressive Rehabilitation Certification at Oaky Creek Coal Mine: A Case Study
1:40 PM - 1:55 PMBiography
Brad has over 30 year’s experience in mine rehabilitation, design and construction developed through a Masters of Applied Science at CQU and CMLR in mine rehabilitation on coal tailings dams in central Queensland, 17 years working in the mining industry in senior environment, technical services and project manager roles. For the last 12 years, he has worked for SLR Consulting where he is Technical Director for Asset Transition and Closure. As a restoration ecologist having held senior mine planning positions, he is a strong advocate for integrated landform design and mine closure planning. Brads, passion is in the area of soil science and native ecosystem establishment and he spends much of his spare time studying native plant soil relationships and bird, fish and mammal ecology.
Mr Shannon Mackenzie
Founder
Mine Earth
An innovative approach to identify durable rock for rehabilitation at the Mt Arthur coal mine
1:55 PM - 2:10 PMBiography
Shannon has worked in the mining industry in both operational roles and as a consultant since 1998. He has worked exclusively in the field of mine closure for over 20 years; during this time, he has managed numerous mine closure projects, led multidisciplinary closure studies, worked in advisory roles for major closure projects, and applied his geological skills to develop practical closure designs for mining landforms. Shannon founded Mine Earth in 2010.
Prof Thomas Baumgartl
Director Future Regions Research Centre
Federation University
Soil amelioration with lignite as a means to improve rehabilitation outcomes
2:10 PM - 2:25 PMBiography
Professor Thomas Baumgartl is co-director of the Future Regions Research Centre at Federation University and also heads the Geotechnical and Hydrogeological Engineering Research Group (GHERG) at Federation University. He has worked previously at the Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation at the University of Queensland, Australia.
Thomas has a degree in Geo-ecology (University of Bayreuth, Germany) and is an environmental scientist with specialisation in soil hydrology and soil mechanics. He has many years of experience working nationally and internationally on mining industry and government funded projects. His research interests focus on mine closure and exploring solutions for the construction of stable landforms.
Thomas is Editor-in-Chief for the Cambridge University Press journal Mine Closure and Transitions and also associate editor and editorial board member of several international journals.
Mr Greg Maddocks
Technical Director
SLR Consulting
Acceptable Erosion Limits for Constructed Mine Landforms – A Literature Review
2:25 PM - 2:40 PMBiography
Greg's technical skills are grounded in geochemical engineering and integrated with soil and geotechnical assessment to source and use soil, regolith and fresh rock in cover systems for waste rock and tailings management, and surface water and ground water assessment and management to address the potential for saline and metalliferous drainage to occur under acid, neutral or alkaline pH.
Greg is a practical practitioner who bridges the silos of geological and environmental assessment, with mine planning, design, and scheduling, to deliver on the theory of integrated mine planning and designing for closure. With his mine waste and water management skill sets and the understanding he has built with leading mine planning practitioners he delivers viable outcomes for projects from concept to closure.
Integrated mine planning and designing for closure is more than theory and with the right people, and right tools, mining projects can be evaluated and developed with the end in mind to provide financially viable outcomes.
Dr Bernhard Wehr
Principal Scientist
Verterra Ecological Engineering
Spatial accounting of sediment loss and erosion risk using remote-sensed RUSLE
2:40 PM - 2:55 PMBiography
Ben Silverwood, Technical Services Lead, Senior Spatial Data Specialist and Chief UAV Pilot
Bachelor of Engineering (Mechatronic), Remote Pilot Licence (CASA)
Ben is Verterra’s Technical Services Lead. As a Senior Spatial Data Specialist his development focus is utilisation of UAV aerial imagery and in particular, the integration of proximal, near remote and remote data analysis for characterisation and modelling of landscape function and crop growth applied to precision agriculture, natural resource management and mine revegetation. Ben has advanced skills in GIS and spatial data analysis, Artificial Intelligence, and machine learning.
Dr Ashraf Khalifa
Principal Consultant (soil Scientist)
SLR Consulting
Advancing Post-Mining Rehabilitation: Utilizing Rainfall Simulators to Enhance Erosional Stability and Landform Design
2:55 PM - 3:10 PMBiography
Dr. Ashraf Khalifa, PhD (Soil Science), CPSS, is a Principal Consultant at SLR Australia with over 20 years of experience in erosion modelling and mine site rehabilitation. He holds a Ph.D. from Griffith University (2010) and is renowned for his expertise in soil science and innovative erosion experiments using rainfall simulators. Dr. Khalifa is proficient in RUSLE, WEPP, SIBERIA, and his own model, MINErosion, designed to assess catchment-scale soil erosion and guide effective land rehabilitation. His work considers factors like slope, soil materials, and vegetation cover.
Dr. Khalifa began as a soil science lecturer at Cairo University before joining Griffith University as a research fellow. Transitioning into consultancy, he has applied models like WEPP, SIBERIA, and MINErosion for erosion assessments, SEEP/W for acid mine drainage prevention, and MEDLI for effluent disposal and irrigation management. Based in Brisbane, his expertise has significantly contributed to mining sector rehabilitation and environmental projects.
