About Shane

Shane has experience in all facets of mine development from concept to execution and closure, including mine plan optimisation, economic and environmental assessment and approvals.

Shane has a results-driven focus on resource recovery, including measurement and reconciliation, assessing the impacts of equipment selection and assessment of ROM factors. He has experience managing mining tenements and coal tailings.

Throughout his career and time working in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Colombia, Shane has developed a core strength in leadership. He has established, led, mentored and maintained teams of mining professionals across multiple disciplines. He now leads Xenith’s Hunter Valley cohort of engineers and resources specialists, striving daily to keep them challenged, supported and engaged.

Shane’s analytical skills are particularly beneficial in the evaluation and optimisation of mining projects, including assessment of social impacts on neighbouring communities and liaison with the government regulator. His considerable technical knowledge enables him to develop standards and provide expertise in risk assessment and management.

He has a deep familiarity with the Hunter Valley coal industry, having worked in the region since the mid-1990s. Shane also has a passion for advancing and future-proofing the industry by encouraging a new generation of mining engineers into careers in resources.

On a personal note…

Shane has two children, lives on an acre property and is a keen gardener in his spare time.

Skills and expertise

• Team management: Manage teams of mining professionals across mining engineering, drill and blast, geology, geotechnical, survey, mining systems, coal handling and logistics.
• Resource definition: Manage resource definition and operational exploration activities and subsequent geological modelling.
• Mine design and optimisation: Determination of economic pit limits, margin ranking, mine and dump design, strip layout, haulage access.
• Mining reserves: ROM/product model development, mining method modifying factors, reconciliation strategies.
• Mine planning: Application of mine planning systems to solve planning challenges, establishment of best practice mine planning and modelling as well as equipment benchmarking.
• Equipment selection: Fleet modelling and selection, truck and shovel match, equipment productivity modelling and benchmarking.
• Short, medium and tactical planning: Development of strategies to maximise coal recovery and reduce cost, reconciliation of planned vs actual. LOM and Budget strategies to optimise resource recovery and balance mining fleet productivity and capacity.
• Landform design: Focus on mine closure planning and establishment, including landform design, landform construction, and reconciliation for mine dumps, mining voids and tailings storage facilities.
• JORC reserve reporting: Experienced JORC Code Competent Person and coal reserves signatory.
• Mining tenements: Management of mining tenements, tenement reporting and liaison with government regulator.
• Coal tailings management: Emplacement, capping and rehabilitation, reporting and liaison with government regulator.
• Finance and due diligence: Development of detailed cost models, Budget and LOM schedule generation and reporting. Mine plan and equipment review and cost modelling.
• Software proficiency: Vulcan, MineScape, SPRY, XPAC.

Career highlights

• Glencore Coal Assets Australia: Mine Project development through Concept, Prefeasibility, Feasibility and Execution phases, including progressing through approvals.Projects included:
  • Glendell Mine Project feasibility planning, equipment selection, infrastructure planning and approvals process to implementation and ongoing operation.
  • Mangoola North Project through pre-feasibility planning, assessment and commencement of approvals process.
  • Mt Owen Continued Operations Project pre-feasibility exploration and planning, feasibility planning, assessment and approvals process, implementation and ongoing operation.
  • Glendell North Project through pre-feasibility exploration and planning, assessment and commencement of approvals process.
  • Mt Owen evaluation of owner operate vs contract operation, equipment selection, economic assessment, internal approvals.

From Shane

“There’s so much value in collaboration, in leveraging collective experience to do things efficiently and the right way, the first time.”