Associated Event
Fourth International Slope Stability in Mining Conference
27-29 October 2025 | Vancouver, Canada
Instrumentation and Slope Monitoring and Implementation Workshop
26 October 2025 | East Meeting Room 20, Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, Canada
This ACG workshop will focus on new developments relating to conventional terrestrial monitoring systems such as open pit radars, prisms, laser scanning, and photogrammetry, as well as the integration of the different types of these monitoring systems and their interpretation. Application examples from many companies providing these new technologies include land cover determination, feature extraction, persistent change detection and monitoring, terrain slope characterisation, soils modelling and saturated ground.
Program*
*Program is subject to change.
Workshop Facilitator
Professor Phil Dight
Professor Geotechnical Engineering
Australian Centre for Geomechanics, The University of Western Australia
Phil has been involved with the development and design of ground support for open pit and underground mining applications since 1975. He initially was involved in mine backfill before looking at how rock support behaved in shear. In 1985 he was awarded the prestigious Manuel Rocha Medal by the International Society of Rock Mechanics (ISRM) for his work in open pit mining and use of ground support to improve pit stability. His ground support algorithm has been adopted by Rocscience in its evaluation of ground support in Phases® and Itasca in 3DEC®. Rocscience also adopted his algorithm for RocTopple®. With Peter Fuller, he undertook research into ground support work in several AMIRA sponsored underground projects. Much of that early research work was formalised in the literature by others. Phil joined the ACG in 2008 and has since been working on in situ stress determination, ground support applications (eg BoltCalc®, fibrecrete), strainburst and slope stability problems. At The University of Western Australia he has developed a research laboratory looking at rock properties in 3D. He is active in training site personnel in geotechnical engineering based on practical applications and on request, he continues to provide specialist consulting.
Presenters:
Albert Cabrejo
Head of Product Strategy
GroundProbe, USA
Albert is a civil engineer with postgraduate studies in geotechnical engineering and over 25 years of experience working in the geotechnical industry. He has supported the expansion of radar technology worldwide for open pits, and more recently new technologies for rock fall detection, tailings dams surface monitoring, underground convergence and construction monitoring, and research and development of new software and geotechnical monitoring solutions. He has presented in numerous international events and several university courses around the world.
Haley Chute
Senior Key Account Manager – Mining NA
IDS GeoRadar, USA
Haley is a senior account manager with 7 years’ experience working in the mining and geotechnical industry. She has worked in expanding radar monitoring programs in North America for open pit mines, landslides, tailings dams, and civil projects. For 3 out of her 7 years, Haley worked in the field as a support engineer, with her most recent expertise in managing mining accounts and driving Synthetic GB-InSAR adoption across multiple mine sites. She graduated from DePauw University with a bachelor’s degree in the geosciences and has presented at the American Geophysical Union for the National Science Foundation.
Davide Colombo
Business Development Manager
Geoapp, Italy
Davide is a telecom engineer with over 20 years’ experience in satellite remote sensing and InSAR displacement monitoring. He has a strong track record of establishing monitoring programs across Africa, North America, and Australia for the mining sector, as well as supporting civil authorities in Europe to adopt satellite remote sensing technologies. He earned his degree in telecommunication engineering from Milan Polytechnic in 2000 and began his career working on satellite InSAR applications. Since 2014, he has specialised in applying InSAR-derived measurements to mining operations, contributing to the development of numerous monitoring programs for waste piles, open pits, and tailings storage facilities worldwide. In 2022, Davide joined Geoapp to advance the integration of robust analytics across diverse monitoring datasets, helping end users extract actionable insights from remote sensing data.
Dr Bradley Forbes
Senior Geotechnical Engineer
BGC Engineering
Bradley is a senior geotechnical engineer at BGC Engineering with over a decade of experience in instrumentation and remote monitoring methods for mining, tunnelling, and geohazard applications. He earned his PhD in geomechanics from Queen’s University where his research focused on assessing the response of ground support systems in underground construction projects. Bradley previously worked for a geotechnical instrumentation manufacturer where he led fiber optic sensing applications and developed numerous techniques to measure and assess excavation performance; many of which have been implemented on projects worldwide. At BGC, he is actively involved in advancing geotechnical instrumentation practices and data management tools. He also leads collaborations with instrumentation manufacturers and academic partners on research initiatives aimed at improving methods for assessing the integrity of mining facilities and underground infrastructure.
Jon Furlong
Senior Geophysicist
Sintela, Canada
Jon Furlong is a geophysicist and senior seismologist with 15 years’ experience in seismic monitoring and distributed fiber optic sensingtechnologies, including distributed acoustic, strain, and temperature sensing. His work spans the oil and gas, mining, and carbon storage sectors, with a focus on data-driven insights for subsurface monitoring and operational safety. Jon has managed and delivered large-scale international projects across North America, Australia, and Asia. He’s remit includes project management, data analytics, algorithm development, and field work. Jon has worked in Ontario, Alberta, and now resides in Victoria (British Columbia, Canada). He’s previous roles include senior positions at Nanometrics, Silixa (now part of Luna Innovations), OptaSense (also Luna), and ESG Solutions, where he led seismic processing teams and helped develop robust monitoring systems. He currently works as a senior geophysicist/seismologist at Sintela, advancing the application of fiber optic sensing in mining. Jon holds a master’s degree in earth sciences (geophysics) and is a registered Professional Geoscientist.
Dr Ken W Mills
Principal Geotechnical Engineer
SCT Operations Pty Ltd, Australia
Ken has 36 years’ experience as a geotechnical engineer working in the field of rock mechanics associated with underground coal mines. He has a wide experience in geotechnical research and consulting work, both in Australia and internationally. Ken specialist interests are measurement of three dimensional in situ stresses in rock using the ANZI strain cell, monitoring of subsidence behaviour and stress changes around longwall panels, measurement and control of the ground movements within the overburden strata using a range of strategies, and interaction of mining induced ground movements with groundwater systems. Ken has worked with Strata Control Technology in Wollongong since 1990 as a senior/principal geotechnical engineer and has been a director of the operating company, SCT Operations Pty Ltd, since 2003. He has been a board member of the Mine Subsidence Technological Society since 1997 including periods as secretary and currently as treasurer. He was a founding committee member of the Eastern Area Ground Control Group and served for several years on the executive team.
Jessica Morgan
Business Development – Oceania
TRE ALTAMIRA, Australia
Jessica has over 13 years of experience as a specialist in the field of InSAR, with roles in technical data analysis, research, project supervision and business development. She has focused on the application of InSAR technology for asset monitoring and risk management within the mining sector, particularly on open pits and tailings storage facilities. She has a master’s degree in remote sensing specialising in the processing and interpretation of satellite data for natural resource monitoring and management. As country manager of Australia for TRE Altamira, Jessica oversees all InSAR projects not only in the mining sector, but also civil engineering, energy and natural hazards.
Alex Neuwirt
President
Canary Systems, Inc., USA
Alex is the founder and president of Canary Systems. He has over 25 years’ experience in hardware and software development, in the field of data acquisition and control. Alex has developed in whole, or part of, many types of hardware and software products for use in the field of data acquisition. His developments include dataloggers; signal conditioning products for numerous types of instruments, with a specialty in vibrating wire instrumentation; and software such as Canary Systems’ MultiLogger software. His areas of expertise also include system integration and communications, whether wired or wireless, and includes RS-232, RS-422/485, SPI, PakBus, MODBUS, TCP/IP, CDMA/GSM/GPRS and LAN/WAN/Internet topologies and deployments.
Julia Potter
Director
Geotechnical Center of Excellence, The University of Arizona, USA
As director of the Geotechnical Center of Excellence (GCE) at the University of Arizona, Julia leads a diverse team in addressing mining geotechnical challenges through collaborative research and education. With a passion for bringing people together to solve complex problems, she fosters partnerships through the GCE to deliver top-notch professional development courses and conduct cutting-edge research that advances the industry.
Prior to joining the GCE, Julia contributed analysis, design, and modelling expertise to a wide array of projects at various stages of development across the globe as a geotechnical consultant. She holds a bachelor of science in geology and history from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, a master of engineering in geological engineering, and is currently pursuing a PhD in the same field at the University of Arizona.
Dedicated to giving back to the industry, Julia has been active on the Board of Women in Mining (WIM) Arizona since 2019 and currently holds the position of Vice President of Women in Mining USA (2022–present).
Michael Royle
Principal Hydrogeologist
SRK Consulting, Canada
Michael is a principal hydrogeologist at SRK Consulting. He has over 30 years’ experience with mining projects in Canada, PNG, Australia, Africa, USA, and Turkey, with three years practice in SRK’s South African offices and one year in the SRK Perth office. He has a range of experience in different jurisdictions and environments. Michael’s recent project management experience has included running multidisciplinary programs up to PFS level in remote and/or arctic conditions. His varied geological experience and instrumentation knowledge has been used to guide rock mass characterisation programs related to slope stability investigations, open pit and underground mine dewatering, tunnelling, resource planning, tailings dam seepage, and process water supply. Most of the geotechnical support work Michael is involved in is for either deep open pit (>500m) or underground projects.
Dr Chad Williams
Manager, Geotechnical & Hydro
Rio Tinto, USA
Michael is a principal hydrogeologist at SRK Consulting. He has over 30 years’ experience with mining projects in Canada, PNG, Australia, Africa, USA, and Turkey, with three years practice in SRK’s South African offices and one year in the SRK Perth office. He has a range of experience in different jurisdictions and environments. Michael’s recent project management experience has included running multidisciplinary programs up to PFS level in remote and/or arctic conditions. His varied geological experience and instrumentation knowledge has been used to guide rock mass characterisation programs related to slope stability investigations, open pit and underground mine dewatering, tunnelling, resource planning, tailings dam seepage, and process water supply. Most of the geotechnical support work Michael is involved in is for either deep open pit (>500m) or underground projects.
The ACG is delighted to welcome both international and domestic attendees to this event. For attendees intending to travel to Canada for the event, please see canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/business/visitors-events-conferences for information on visa requirements. We encourage international attendees to secure visas early.
If you have any questions, please email info-acg@uwa.edu.au