James Smith

BTeach/BSci (Geo), GradDip Mine Eng, MBus, MAusIMM

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James has spent more than 20 years working in the resources industry, both in consulting and site roles with substantial exposure to underground and open pit mines.

He has significant experience both in resource geology, open pit and underground mining engineering roles. James has developed expertise in taking raw technical data all the way to final project delivery though geological modelling, geotechnical consideration, mine design, planning and scheduling all while maintaining a focus on business objectives and the whole of mine systems. James has extensive experience in studies management having worked on 50+ Palaris studies including decarbonisation studies, due diligence studies, feasibility studies and JORC resource and reserve statements.

Expertise

  • Feasibility Studies
  • Mine Planning & Optimisation
  • Geological Modelling
  • Resource Evaluation
  • Business Improvement

Track Record

  • James has been involved in a broad range of projects at Palaris from short term planning while onsite, medium term and budget planning, feasibility studies, due diligences, technical reviews and through to opportunity assessments. He excels at taking technical and operational information to produce a complete picture of the project and the interdependencies between each area.
  • He has led many scoping, pre-feasibility and feasibility studies at Palaris that span multiple different mining methods in both open cut and underground coal mines. James has extensive experience as both the project manager and technical director roles for large complex studies leading multi-disciplinary teams to deliver successful outcomes to the client.
  • James has recently been involved in Decarbonisation projects including the feasibility of Ventilation Air Methane (VAM) projects in underground coal mines.
  • His breadth of experience in mining advisory in underpinned with strong operational and technical experience having been a senior mining engineer at open cut mines, underground bord and pillar, and underground longwall mines.
  • He has significant experience in the writing, supervision and/or sign off JORC resource and reserve reports.
  • James has significant experience in using Mineplanner, XPAC, Spry, Vulcan and AutoCAD.