BSc (Geology, Physical Geography)
Chris is an experienced Geotechnical Engineer with over nine years of diverse experience across the civil and mining sectors. He has held a variety of roles – including underground and open-pit site support, ground investigation coordination, engineering geology, and field management – across New Zealand, Australia, and several South Pacific nations.
His background includes a balanced mix of site-based and project-based work. In New Zealand, Chris worked as a consulting engineering geologist on a wide range of civil infrastructure projects, including transport, energy, subdivisions, tunnels, and water infrastructure (wastewater and stormwater). He also contributed to several Grant Aid projects across the Pacific, including in the Solomon Islands, Micronesia, Fiji, Tuvalu, and the Marshall Islands.
Currently, Chris is part of MineGeoTech’s Geotechnical Site Support Group. Over the past 14 months, he has been seconded to BHP’s Western Australian Iron Ore (WAIO) Newman Operations, where he provides geotechnical site support and reconciliation services. His responsibilities include slope monitoring (IDS radars and prisms), pit inspections (design compliance, wall sign-offs, and slope failure assessments), pit and stockpile design reviews, and face mapping. Prior to this, his focus was on underground metalliferous operations, including narrow vein open stoping, seismic response monitoring, and underground support inspections.
His key specialties include:
- Geotechnical reconciliation: structural data collection and stratigraphic contact identification to validate geological models and assess slope stability.
- Proficient in geotechnical software including Maptek products (Vulcan, Geology Core & Point Studio), RocScience products (Slide2 & Dips).
- Ground condition analysis and drill core logging for geotechnical model development.
- Field management and geological lead for large site investigations.
- Preparation of geotechnical factual and interpretive reports.