O’Kane Consultants has the following organizational structure, with biographies of key personnel provided below.

Key Personnel

Mr. Mike O'Kane, M.Sc., P.Eng.: is the President of O'Kane Consultants and is based in the Calgary office. He has a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering, a M.Sc. in Geotechnical Engineering, and over 13 years experience in applied academic research and consulting. Prior to joining O'Kane Consultants he worked as a Research Engineer for the Unsaturated Soils Research Group at the University of Saskatchewan. His area of expertise is the design, implementation, and performance monitoring of cover systems for mine waste. The focus of his work is on the application of unsaturated zone hydrology and geochemistry to closure of tailings and waste rock storage facilities.

Mr. O'Kane has extensive mining industry experience and involvement in a wide range of mine property environmental projects. He also has a strong technical background in site-specific characterization of hydrology and hydrogeology, and their influence on the sustainable reclamation of mine waste material and management of surface water and groundwater. Mr. O'Kane has designed cover systems for application in humid and arid climates for control of acid mine drainage from mine waste rock and tailings at numerous sites in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, and the USA. Each of these projects includes implementing all or some component of the design, implementation, and performance monitoring of cover systems at a detailed and/or feasibility level of design. In addition, Mr. O'Kane has served as a third party reviewer for State regulatory agencies.

Mike O'Kane Curriculum Vitae Request (E-mail)

Mr. Brian Ayres, M.Sc., P.Eng.: is Vice-President of O'Kane Consultants and manager of our Saskatoon office. He has a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering, a M.Sc. in Geotechnical Engineering, and 10 years experience as a geo-environmental engineer. The focus of Mr. Ayres' graduate work was on field monitoring of soil-atmosphere fluxes through tailings and natural surface soils at a uranium mine site in northern Saskatchewan. Prior to joining O'Kane Consultants he worked as an Environmental Engineer for COGEMA Resources Inc. in the Saskatoon main office, as well as at remote mine sites in northern Saskatchewan.

Mr. Ayres' area of expertise is the design, implementation and performance monitoring of cover systems for all types of mine waste. He also has experience in the design of erosion control measures and other hydraulic structures for surface water management systems, and in developing detailed cost estimates for construction of full-scale cover systems. Mr. Ayres has conducted material characterization programmes, supervised the construction of large-scale test cover plots, and installed field performance monitoring systems at several mine sites located in Canada, Australia, and the United States.

Brian Ayres Curriculum Vitae Request (E-mail)

Mr. Mark Phillip, M.Sc., E.I.T.: is Vice-President of O'Kane Consultants and manager of our US office based in Anaconda, Montana. He has a B.Sc. in Environmental Engineering and a M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering with an emphasis in mine waste management. He has extensive experience with mine hydrology, geochemistry, closure planning, financial assurance, and cost estimation. In recent years, Mr. Phillip has gained considerable experience in air flow and water quality monitoring techniques for understanding the respiration behavior of waste rock dumps.

Prior to joining O'Kane Consultants in 2004, Mr. Phillip regulated both active and historic mine sites as an employee of the New Mexico Environment Department's Ground Water Quality Bureau. As closure permit lead for a major copper mine, he guided the development of a closure plan by working with the mine operator, public interest groups, and other government agencies. He developed internal closure cost estimates and reviewed external cost estimate submittals for several mines. Mr. Phillip served as the project manager for a Superfund-like cleanup of historic mine waste, providing oversight on closure implementation and groundwater impact studies.

Mark Phillip Curriculum Vitae Request (E-mail)

Mr. David Christensen, M.Sc., P.Eng.: is Manager of Numerical Modelling and is based in our Saskatoon office. He has a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering, a M.Sc. in Geotechnical Engineering, and 6 years experience in applied academic research and consulting. His graduate work focused on erosion monitoring and modelling as well as landform evolution at the Questa mine site in New Mexico, USA.

Mr. Christensen's area of expertise is the design of field trial and full-scale cover systems through application of various numerical models including VADOSE/W, SEEP/W and WEPP. He also has considerable experience in construction supervision and installation of vadose zone monitoring instrumentation for cover system field trials. Mr. Christensen is O'Kane Consultants' sales representative for Sentek Sensor Technologies equipment in Canada and responsible for the promotion and sales of the soil moisture monitoring equipment.

Dave Christensen Curriculum Vitae Request (E-mail)

Mr. Greg Meiers, M.Eng.: is Manager of Field Installations and Investigations based in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He has a B.Sc. in Environmental Science and a M.Eng. in Environmental Engineering, and 6 years experience in applied academic research and consulting. The focus of Mr. Meiers' graduate work was on the assessment of field saturated permeability conditions for cover and mine waste materials using a Guelph permeameter.

Mr. Meier's area of expertise is the installation and maintenance of vadose zone monitoring instrumentation installed within field trial and full-scale mine waste cover systems. He also has considerable experience with field sampling and in situ characterization of mine waste and potential cover materials gained at the Mt. Whaleback, Tom Price, Golden Grove, Tanami, Mt. Morgan, Peak Gold, Ridgeway, and Syncrude mine sites.

Greg Meiers Curriculum Vitae Request (E-mail)

Dr. Thorsten Reszat, Ph.D.: is a Geochemist with O’Kane Consultants and Manager of our Australian office in Brisbane, QLD. He has a B.Sc. (high honours) in Geological Sciences and Ph.D. specializing in Aqueous Geochemistry and Contaminant Transport Hydrogeology, and over 7 years experience in applied research for several mining companies and the Government of Canada. Mr. Reszat’s Ph.D. thesis is on characterization of colloidal matter in clay-rich groundwater environments including determining metal and radionuclide complexation with colloids and facilitated transport of contaminants with colloids. He has a number of years experience in the uranium mining industry including management of a project examining the long-term fate and transport of potential contaminants in the Deilmann in-pit tailings facility, Key Lake Mine, Canada.

Mr. Reszat’s area of expertise is the speciation and transport of heavy metal and radionuclides in the subsurface. His experience is directly related to mine waste performance and decommissioning and has worked in the Canadian uranium, potash and heavy oil sands mining industries. He is the author of several refereed scientific publications and has numerous conference papers in this field.

Thorsten Reszat Curriculum Vitae Request (E-mail)

Ms. Sophie Kessler, M.Sc.: is a Senior Geo-Scientist with O'Kane Consultants and Manager of our Fort McMurray office. She has a B.Sc. in Environmental Science, with a major in Geomorphology, and a M.Sc. in Soil Science at the University of Saskatchewan. Ms. Kessler's graduate work examined the salinity patterns developing in reclaimed soils over saline-sodic overburden structures in the oil sands region of northern Alberta. She is responsible for providing service to the oil sands reclamation industry through installation and interpretation of data gathered from field performance monitoring systems.

Sophie Kessler Curriculum Vitae Request (E-mail)

Ms. Bonnie Dobchuk, M.Sc., P.Eng.: is a Geotechnical Engineer with O'Kane Consultants in the Saskatoon office. She has a B.Sc. in Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering, a M.Sc. in Geoenvironmental Engineering, and 5 years experience in applied academic research and consulting. The focus of Ms. Dobchuk's graduate work was on modelling oxygen diffusion and consumption through a desulphurized tailings cover at a gold mine in northern Ontario. Prior to joining O'Kane Consultants she worked as a Research Engineer at the University of Saskatchewan, where she specialized in modelling diffusion through porous media.

Ms. Dobchuk's area of expertise is the management and interpretation of data collected from watershed monitoring sites installed at oil sands mines operated by Syncrude Canada Ltd. She is also O'Kane Consultants' project manager for the research and development of a deep soil moisture probe, a project partially funded by the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP).

Bonnie Dobchuk Curriculum Vitae Request (E-mail)

Ms. Denise Chapman, M.Sc., P.Eng.: is a Geotechnical Engineer with O'Kane Consultants in the Saskatoon office. She has a B.Sc. in Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering and is working towards the completion of a M.Sc. in Geoenvironmental Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. Ms. Chapman's graduate work involves determining the factors controlling the evolution of and to develop an interpretive model of the hydrogeologic system for a newly constructed saline-sodic overburden structure in the oil sands region of northern Alberta. Prior to joining O'Kane Consultants, Ms. Chapman was a Research Engineer at the University of Saskatchewan working on environmental monitoring of intensive livestock operations in Saskatchewan and investigating the performance of alternative soil covers over saline-sodic overburden. Her focus at O'Kane Consultants is on management and interpretation of data collected from watershed monitoring sites installed at several oil sands mines in northern Alberta.

Denise Chapman Curriculum Vitae Request (E-mail)

Mr. Robert Shurniak, M.Sc., E.I.T.: is a Geotechnical Engineer with O'Kane Consultants based in Nanaimo, British Columbia. He has a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering, a M.Sc. in Geotechnical Engineering, and three years experience in applied academic research and consulting. Mr. Shurniak’s graduate work focused on predictive modelling of moisture movement within soil cover systems for saline/sodic overburden piles in the oil sands region of northern Alberta. His area of expertise is soil-atmosphere and seepage numerical modelling applied to the design of mine waste cover systems and evaluation of various unsaturated zone technology problems.

Robert Shurniak Curriculum Vitae Request (E-mail)

Mr. Lindsay Tallon, M.Sc., A.Ag.: is a Geo-Scientist with O'Kane Consultants in the Saskatoon office. He has a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, with a major in Environmental Science and minor in Soil Science. Mr. Tallon is working towards the completion of a M.Sc. in Soil Science at the University of Saskatchewan, where he is examining the transport and retention of E. coli through soil. He is responsible for providing service to the oil sands reclamation industry through installation of field performance monitoring sensors, with a focus on sulphur disposal research and development.

Lindsay Tallon Curriculum Vitae Request (E-mail)

Ms. Amy Heidman, M.Sc.: is a Reclamation Monitoring Specialist with O’Kane Consultants based on the Syncrude Canada Ltd. site in Fort McMurray, Alberta. She has a Diploma of Technology in Chemical Engineering, a B.Sc. in Environmental and Conservation Science specializing in land reclamation, and a M.Sc. in Land Reclamation and Remediation. Her graduate work focused on soil microbiological communities during bioremediation of crude oil contamination, examining differing responses to oil, compost and fertilizer amendments.

Prior to joining O’Kane Consultants she worked for several years as a research technologist at Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Alberta Research Council, and the University of Alberta. Ms. Heidman is responsible for data collection from and installation and maintenance of scientific equipment installed at multiple watershed monitoring sites located on Syncrude Canada Ltd.’s oil sands mine property.

Amy Heidman Curriculum Vitae Request (E-mail)

Ms. Kristie Bonstrom, M.Sc.: is a Hydrogeologist with O’Kane Consultants in the Brisbane office. Ms. Bonstrom has a B.Sc. (high honours) and M.Sc. in Geological Sciences and has 4 years experience in applied academic research and consulting. She completed her M.Sc. thesis on identifying and quantifying the physical controls on water migration in a variably saturated fractured porous medium at Syncrude Canada Ltd. Prior to completing her M.Sc. she was employed as a consulting hydrogeologist working on hydrostratigraphy and groundwater modelling projects specifically on long-term mine tailings performance monitoring at the IMC Belle Plaine Potash Mine.

Ms. Bonstrom’s area of expertise is variably saturated hydrogeology specifically understanding the physical migration of water in the vadose zone. She also has experience with finite element groundwater modelling software such as FEMWATER, Hydrogeosphere and Geo-Slope’s Geo-Studio suite of models.

Kristie Bonstrom Curriculum Vitae Request (E-mail)

Ms. Randi Strunk, B.Sc., E.I.T.: is a Geotechnical Engineer with O'Kane Consultants in the Saskatoon office. She has a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering and is working towards the completion of a M.Sc. in Geoenvironmental Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. Ms. Strunk's graduate work involves characterizing test soil covers at the Fleet Street Landfill in Regina, Saskatchewan, as well as conducting a preliminary water balance to be used as a benchmark for future analysis at this site. Her focus at O’Kane Consultants is on data management and interpretation at various sites as well as soil-atmosphere numerical modelling applied to the design of mine waste cover systems.

Randi Strunk Curriculum Vitae Request (E-mail)

Mr. Ivan Turgeon A.Sc.T.: is a CAD/CAM Engineering Technologist with O'Kane Consultants in the Saskatoon office. He also has experience in the Civil and Geotechnical Engineering fields and a background that consists of several years of fieldwork. Mr. Turgeon is responsible for implementing field and laboratory material characterization and sensor calibration programs, developing datalogger programs with the PC208W software, preparing construction and as-built drawings using AutoCAD and CorelDraw, and installing performance monitoring sensors in the field.

Ivan Turgeon Curriculum Vitae Request (E-mail)

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