I'm a technical director in hydrogeology at WSP‘s mine water team. My work focuses on groundwater management, mine water strategy and helping clients navigate water-related challenges associated with new mining projects, mine expansions and ongoing operations. 

Most people think of groundwater as a technical issue. In reality, it influences almost every decision a mining project makes, from design and permitting to production and community impacts. 

As a result, I work across nearly all commodities, with a focus on copper, gold and lithium, while also supporting emerging technologies such as in-situ leaching and recovery.

Mining brings together everything that interests me: geology, hydrogeology, engineering, environmental management and large-scale problem solving. I understood early in my career that groundwater can influence the viability of a mining project. 

What has kept me passionate is the impact that groundwater can have on a mining operation and the role it plays in the success of many projects. Groundwater can be either an enabler or a constraint to mining, whether through excessive inflows that impact mine development and operations, or insufficient water supplies to support production. 

In some cases, mining occurs in environmentally sensitive groundwater systems where careful management is required to protect groundwater dependent ecosystems and surrounding users. 
Helping clients understand these challenges and develop practical solutions that unlock mine development and production continues to motivate me.  

I think water is probably one of the most significant challenges that the mining sector faces. 

There's increasing water scarcity and competition for groundwater resources. That leads to mining projects operating in sensitive environments where there are already existing users that rely on that groundwater or increasingly complex regulatory environments. 

It’s also a situation that’s becoming more common. I think many future mines that might be located in areas where water availability could be limited, or where there are increasing environmental expectations.

Client and stakeholder expectations are changing as a result of these trends, so there's now a stronger focus in the industry on water stewardship and better managing the water in a more sustainable way. 

We’re helping address these challenges by combining expertise in hydrogeology, groundwater chemistry, environmental science, engineering disciplines, geotechnical engineering and digital technology.

Many of the easily accessible copper deposits have already been developed. Future deposits might be deeper, lower grade or located in more challenging environments, subject to greater environmental and social expectations.  

Supporting the mining operations and approvals in those environments is a challenge.

Mining will need more technical innovation, perhaps more sophisticated water and environmental management strategies. Delivering new water supplies to support copper production will also be increasingly complex.

If you've got undeveloped copper deposits in regions where water is scarce or already heavily allocated, water can become a critical factor.

I guess what a lot of people don't really appreciate is that groundwater influences almost every aspect of the copper project. Successful projects depend on understanding the groundwater system early in the project life cycle and developing groundwater management strategies that can balance production requirements with environmental protection.

I think the biggest technical challenge is understanding and managing uncertainties in groundwater systems while providing clients with practical solutions. Unlike many other engineering disciplines, hydrogeologists usually need to make decisions with incomplete data sets and complex subsurface conditions.

The goal is not to eliminate uncertainty entirely, but to understand it enough to support project decision making and identify practical engineering and management measures to reduce the risk.

Many of the projects I'm currently involved in sit at the intersection of groundwater, engineering and mine development. This includes mine dewatering strategies, Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) investigations and a growing number of opportunities in In-Situ Copper Recovery (ISCR) and similar technologies. 

ISCR is especially exciting because it turns traditional mining concepts on their head. Rather than groundwater being something that needs to be removed or managed around, the hydrogeological system effectively becomes part of the mining process itself.

The projects I'm most proud of are those where we've helped clients overcome water-related constraints and unlock project value. Whether managing groundwater inflows, implementing aquifer recharge schemes or supporting emerging ISCR developments.

My experience is around coming up with new, innovative ways to manage groundwater to help offset its impacts so that mines can be developed in areas with sensitive environments and groundwater use.

Moving into that niche area has had the biggest impact on my career, because there’s not that many other experts in that field. We've had a lot of success in hydrogeology and water management, offering this new technique to existing and proposed mining projects.

We help clients manage or mitigate their impacts to the surrounding sensitive environment through this technology. I'd say my biggest career moment has been seeing these innovative groundwater management solutions deliver real-world results for our clients.