BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Gord McKenna, Chair, is a geotechnical engineer and geologist with 32 years of experience in mine operations and consulting for oil sands, coal, and metal mines. Gord founded McKenna Geotechnical Inc in 2017 to bring his landform design experience to a broader audience and provide independent geotechnical advice to geotechnical review boards, panels, and First Nations. Gord and his team have designed 20 reclaimed watersheds that cover 40 square kilometres and incorporate 30 wetlands and 90 kilometres of streams. He has been a lead contributor to several manuals on landform design, mine reclamation, and tailings, and co-authored 100 papers and book chapters. He has a bachelor’s degree in geological engineering from the University of British Columbia and a PhD in geotechnical engineering from the University of Alberta. Gord is also an adjunct professor at the U of A.
Mike O’Kane, P.Eng., M.Sc., MAusIMM, GCB.D, founded Okane Consultants (Okane) in 1996, a company providing integrated mine planning, closure, and relinquishment solutions to the mining industry internationally. Mike is the chair of Okane’s Board of Directors and continues to work within 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 closure planning and project specific objectives and designs. He is a recognized subject matter expert in cover system and landform design, and application of unsaturated zone hydrology and geochemistry, for mine waste management. He provides subject matter expert reviews for numerous government and private agencies while also being a member of multiple advisory panels. Mike holds a Global ESG Competent Boards Designation. In 2014, Mike received the University of Saskatchewan Alumni Achievement Award for “Global Development of his Business and Corporation, and Philanthropy.”
Christine Daly is an award-winning conservation, reclamation, and community engagement specialist. Dr. Daly is the principal of Daly Reclamation & Reconnection Inc. and a sessional lecturer at the University of Calgary. Her collaborative and innovative approach has led to many environmental improvements in the oil sands industry, including tailings pond reclamation, fen wetland reclamation, and an industry-wide boreal woodland caribou conservation challenge. Christine co-created a participatory and inclusive approach to mine reclamation and closure planning with Fort McKay First Nation co-researchers, called “co-reclamation.” The Co-reclamation Project, and its associated planning tools, explored this approach with Fort McKay First Nation co-researchers to support their stewardship and reclamation of the Fort McKay Traditional Territory in Treaty 8, northeastern Alberta, Canada, which is affected by oil sands activities.
Anne Naeth is a professor of land reclamation and restoration ecology in the Faculty of Agricultural Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Alberta, where she is also associate dean of research and graduate studies and director of the Land Reclamation International Graduate School. Anne’s reclamation research focuses on understanding plant-soil-water relationships and their effects on ecosystem structure and function and their role in reclamation after disturbances associated with pipelines, mines, and lands used for industry, agriculture, grazing, forestry and recreation. She is also interested in the impacts of invasive species and waste products such as compost, manure, sewage sludge and biosolids. She has a master’s and a PhD in land reclamation, both from the University of Alberta.
Justin Straker is a soil scientist and forest ecologist at the Integral Ecology Group, which he co-founded in 2010. Justin has more than two decades of experience in applied terrestrial ecology, and focuses his practice on three fields: reclamation of surface-mining disturbances, including design, implementation, assessment, review and regulatory inspection of reclamation and reclamation-research programs; assessment of the cumulative effects of human activities on ecosystems; and, assessment of environmental effects of industry (e.g., air pollution) on terrestrial ecosystems. Justin is based in Duncan, BC, and has worked throughout Canada, Alaska, South America, and South Asia. He has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from McGill University, and a master’s degree in soil science from the University of British Columbia.
TECHNICAL ADVISORS
Mike O’Kane P.Eng., M.Sc., MAusIMM, GCB.D, Co-Chair, founded Okane Consultants (Okane) in 1996, a company providing integrated mine planning, closure, and relinquishment solutions to the mining industry internationally. Mike is the chair of Okane’s Board of Directors and continues to work within 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 closure planning and project specific objectives and designs. He is a recognized subject matter expert in cover system and landform design, and application of unsaturated zone hydrology and geochemistry, for mine waste management. He provides subject matter expert reviews for numerous government and private agencies while also being a member of multiple advisory panels. Mike holds a Global ESG Competent Boards Designation. In 2014, Mike received the University of Saskatchewan Alumni Achievement Award for “Global Development of his Business and Corporation, and Philanthropy.”
June Pollard, Co-chair, is an engineering geologist specializing in mine closure planning and reclamation, landform design, site characterization investigations, geological mapping and project management at Wood plc. She has been involved in the design and construction of large-mine reclaimed watersheds at mine sites across Western Canada. A number of these projects were instrumented watersheds for reclamation research, each of which fostered several post-graduate degrees. June has authored a number of conference papers on mine closure and has presented on landform design and mine reclamation for short courses at conferences, universities and mining companies. She has a bachelor’s degree in geological sciences from the University of Leeds and a master’s in engineering geology from Newcastle University.
Nick Beier is a geotechnical engineer and assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. His research interests encompass tailings and mine waste management for surface mining operations, including those in the oil sands of northeastern Alberta, in addition to base and precious metals. He focuses on development and evaluation of new tailings dewatering and management strategies through simulations and laboratory and field testing programs. Through the Oil Sands Tailings Research Facility, he leads research into the depositional and long-term geotechnical behavior of chemically amended and/or freeze-thaw dewatered fine tailings. He holds a master’s and PhD in geoenvironmental engineering from the University of Alberta and has served as a technical advisor to Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA).
Stephen Day is a geochemist and North America Practice Leader at SRK Consulting based in Vancouver, BC. He is a specialist in the development of waste management plans that address acid rock drainage and leaching of mine wastes in general. He has a particular expertise in the development of prediction methods for mine planning and modeling of leachate chemistry. Stephen’s project experience includes development of innovative approaches to management of potentially acid generating wastes at new mines, assessment of existing waste disposal facilities at operating and abandoned mines to determine options for reduction or elimination of contaminated drainage, and environmental audits of mines. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in geology from the University of British Columbia.
Kate Duke is a geochemist and hydrogeologist with Rio Tinto’s Technical Development Team in Bundoora, Australia. Kate has a strong background in characterization of mine rock and tailings for acid rock drainage and metals leaching as well as the development of conceptual and numerical geochemical models of effluent chemistry. She also has experience in physical hydrogeology, including oversight of drilling programs, aquifer testing, vadose zone characterization, and development of conceptual and numerical groundwater flow-and-transport models. Kate has one master’s degree on hydrology from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, a second in earth and planetary sciences (cosmochemistry) from the University of New Mexico, and a bachelor’s degree in biology, also from the University of New Mexico.
Andy Fourie is a professor in the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering at the University of Western Australia in Perth. He has worked at the University of Queensland and the University of Witwatersrand and has been a visiting professor at the University of Alberta, the Catholic University of Valparaiso in Chile, and the University of Colorado in Boulder. His research focus is mitigating the impacts of mining and municipal solid waste disposal. Outcomes from his research have been incorporated in environmental legislation in South Africa. He recently contributed to a series of guidelines for managing mine tailings in Australia and helped develop a document on barrier systems for retaining uranium mining waste for the International Atomic Energy Association. He has a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and a PhD from Imperial College, University of London.
Steven Pearce is the technical director of Mine Environment Management Ltd. in Wales, UK. He is a principal level geo-environmental scientist with over 15 years of international experience in geo-environmental risk management. His areas of expertise include applied geochemistry, mine waste management, mine closure and rehabilitation, groundwater and human health quantitative risk assessment, and hydrogeology. Steven’s professional experience has been predominantly in the sectors of mining, heavy industry, waste management and construction. Steven is currently supporting industry-lead research into the areas of carbon sequestration, optimization of mine waste planning, and the development of novel laboratory analysis techniques for mine waste characterization. He has a master’s degree in environmental geoscience from the University of Birmingham, and is a fellow of the British Geological Society and an associate member of the UK-based Institute of Civil Engineers.
Doina Priscu is a principal engineer and co-founder of Priscu and Associates Consulting Engineers Inc., based in British Columbia, Canada. She is a civil/mining engineer with more than 25 years of professional experience in operations, consulting, research, and the regulatory aspects of the mining industry. Doina provides specialized engineering services in mine closure and reclamation planning, design, implementation, and review, as well as long-term post-closure assessment and performance evaluation of sustainable closure solutions. She also advises on sustainable mining plans and environmental management for mining operations. Over the years, Doina has managed projects in Canada, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, and Romania. She actively participates in organizing technical conferences, volunteers with the Canadian Institute of Mining and various professional associations, and is a Fellow of Engineers Canada. Doina holds an MSc from the Technical Institute of Civil Engineering of Bucharest, Romania and an MEng from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She is a registered Professional Engineer in the Province of British Columbia.
Jerry Vandenberg is a professional chemist in Alberta and BC. He was a principal environmental chemist at Golder Associates from 2004 to 2019. He has also worked for environmental departments in all three levels of government since 1997. He now divides his time among consulting at Vandenberg Water Science; as a sessional instructor of environmental science, environmental impact assessment and limnology at UBC (Okanagan); and as a paid-on-call firefighter. He holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and a master’s in environmental chemistry from the University of Calgary, and a water quality technology diploma from Okanagan University College.
Dirk Van Zyl has more than 40 years of experience in research, teaching, and consulting in tailings and mine rock structures. In the past decade much of his attention has focused on mining and sustainable development. Since 2010, he has been a professor and chair of mining and the environment at the University of British Columbia’s Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining and Engineering. His current research focuses on mining’s contribution to sustainable development, as well as the application of life-cycle assessment to mined earth structures. He previously served as director of the Mining Life-Cycle Center and chairman of mining engineering at the University of Nevada’s Mackay School of Mines. Dirk is a registered professional civil engineer, and the author of more than 90 publications. He is a graduate of the University of Pretoria and was awarded a master’s and a PhD in geotechnical engineering from Purdue University.
David Williams is the Golder Professor of Geomechanics and the director of the Geotechnical Engineering Centre within the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland in Australia. The Centre is supported by Golder Associates, Rio Tinto, AngloGold Ashanti, and BHP Billiton, with matching funding from the university, to a total of $1.2 million/year. It offers unique and highly successful geotechnical engineering undergraduate programs, and extensive research in geotechnical engineering. David’s primary research and consulting interests lie in the application of geotechnical principles to the management and rehabilitation of mine wastes, for which he enjoys an international reputation. He has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and a PhD from the University of Cambridge.