ACG Team - Australian Centre for Geomechanics

Meet the ACG Team

Director

Associate Professor Johan Wesseloo

Associate Professor and Director, Australian Centre for Geomechanics

Since obtaining a BEng (Civil) and MEng (Geotechnical) from The University of Pretoria, Johan has been involved in geotechnical engineering in open pit and underground environments throughout 14 countries. He commenced his career in 1998 as a geotechnical engineer at SRK Consulting, Johannesburg where he was involved in open pit and underground projects in varying geotechnical conditions. In 2005 he was awarded a PhD (Geotechnical) from The University of Pretoria. Johan joined the Australian Centre for Geomechanics (ACG) in 2007 as a research fellow. During his time at the ACG, Johan has been involved in research, the supervision of postgraduate students and geotechnical training. He also performs geotechnical and mining-induced seismicity reviews providing him with the valuable opportunity to visit numerous operations worldwide. Johan was instrumental in the development of the mXrap software and many of the software routines and apps available in that platform. Johan is a Fellow of The Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM). He was awarded the SAIMM Gold Medal in 2006 and 2016, and the SAIMM Silver Medal in 2014. In 2019, Johan was appointed director of the ACG.

Technical Staff

Paulus Angkodjojo

Software Engineer – mXrap

Paulus joined the ACG in 2023 as a software engineer in the mXrap development team. He completed his Master’s of Software Engineering at The University of Western Australia in 2020 and worked for a mining technology company before joining the ACG. His focus is to work alongside geotechnical engineers to maintain and develop mXrap apps and associated tools.

Dr Laura Camball

Research Fellow

Laura is a specialised engineer with a focus on seismicity and geomechanics in underground hardrock mines. She has worked with Canada’s deepest and highest stress mining operations for over a decade – completing her PhD in 2018. Her practical experience in seismic hazard evaluation, mine design and high stress blast response enables her to develop custom tools to overcome the dynamic challenges that mine site personnel face daily. Laura joined the ACG as a research fellow in 2023.

Dr Daniel Cumming-Potvin

Project Lead – mXrap

Daniel completed his Bachelor of Mining Engineering and PhD at The University of Western Australia in 2012 and 2018 respectively. He has worked at a number of underground metal mines in Australia, specialising in the areas of ground support, monitoring and mine seismicity. Daniel is currently project lead for mXrap.

Professor Phil Dight

Professor Geotechnical Engineering

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 UWA 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.

Sheehan Gabriel

Laboratory Technician

Sheehan joined the ACG team in 2020 as a lab technician in the strainburst team. Sheehan’s work at ACG includes sample preparation, conducting DRA, BTS, FT, triaxial and post peak testing and processing tests data.

Dr Audrey Goulet

Research Fellow

Audrey joined the ACG in 2023, while finishing her PhD. She completed her PhD and her Master of Mining Engineering in 2024 and 2018 respectively at Université Laval (Québec, Canada). She also completed a bachelor’s degree in geological engineering at Université Laval. She specialised into rock mass characterization and seismicity in deep underground mines.

Audrey is a part of the mXrap team and works on the application of probabilistic ground support design tools which is a subproject of phase 3 of Ground Support Systems Optimisation (GSSO3).

Paul Harris

Principal Software Engineer – mXrap

Paul was originally contracted in 2001 to develop the software component of the Mine Seismicity and Rockburst Risk Management project. Before joining the ACG, he developed custom software for clients in the mining industry. Paul is now continuing to develop the mXrap software, and is the project manager and developer for the Regional

Seismic Network project. His focus is on software development and its application to mining and seismicity.

Dr Matthew Heinsen Egan

Senior Software Engineer – mXrap

Matthew joined the ACG in 2018 as a software engineer. Matthew’s focus is on further developing the libraries and tools available for mXrap App developers, and contributing to the development of specific mXrap Apps.

Ai Li (Ellie)

Laboratory Technician

Ellie joined the ACG team in 2016 as a lab technician in the strainburst team. Ellie’s work at ACG includes sample preparation, conducting DRA, BTS, FT, triaxial and post peak testing and processing tests data.

Benoît McFadyen

Research Fellow

Benoit has been working with the ACG team since 2019 on the ACG Stope Reconciliation and Optimisation Research project while completing his PhD of Mining Engineering at Université Laval on the same subject.

He has a BEng degree in Engineering Geology and a Master of Mining Engineering degree from Université Laval, Canada. Benoît joined the ACG full time in 2024, while finishing his PhD. His work focuses on the stope reconciliation app development as well as building stope performance prediction models for sites.

Joseph Justin Muaka Mbenza

PhD Student and Research Fellow – Ground Support Systems Optimisation

Joseph joined the ACG in early 2019 as a research fellow. Previously, Joseph was a senior mining geotechnical engineer for SRK Consulting (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd.

He has 15 years of experience in mining and rock mechanics. He was the recipient of the Rauji Foundation award in 2004 for best student, Faculty of Engineering, University of Lubumbashi, and the Chairman award for employee of the year at SRK Consulting (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd in 2016.

Liam Niedzielski

Software Engineer – mXrap

Liam works alongside the geotechnical engineers to develop and maintain mXrap apps, as well as contribute to the libraries available for mXrap developers.

Professor Yves Potvin

Professor of Mining Geomechanics

Yves has more than 40 years’ experience in rock mechanics and mine design and has previously held managerial positions at Mount Isa Mines, the Noranda Technology Centre and worked as a mining engineer at Noranda Mines, Gaspe Division. He undertakes numerous collaborative industry-focussed research projects and is presently involved with the ACG’s Ground Support Systems Optimisation Project, and the Stope Reconciliation and Optimisation Project. He currently participates in several geotechnical review boards.

Denisha Sewnun

PhD Student and Research Fellow

Denisha has more than 13 years of experience in the geomechanics aspects of open pit and underground mining projects. She has a BSc (honours) degree in Engineering Geology

from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a Master of Engineering degree in Geomechanics from the University of the Witwatersrand. In 2020, Denisha joined the ACG as a research fellow after having spent eight years providing consulting services for mining projects across Africa. Denisha is currently a Master of Philosophy student involved in the in situ testing of ground support using blasting, which forms part of the Ground Support System Optimisation research project (GSSO3). She also assists with the Discrete Fracture Network/Block Model Limit Equilibrium Ground Support Design Tools research project and is a part of the mXrap team, where she works on the development of the Rock Mass Data Analyser application.

Stuart Tierney

PhD Student and Research Assistant

Raleigh and Kanowna Belle. He completed a Master of Engineering Science (Mining Geomechanics) at Curtin University in 2016 where his thesis in the final semester was assisted by the ACG. Stuart joined the ACG as a research assistant for the mXrap Consortium in February 2017 and started his PhD in 2018 looking to quantify the risk associated with short-term seismic exclusion zones.

Dr Kyle Woodward

Research Fellow

of this degree, Kyle undertook postgraduate research with the ACG which focused on time-dependent seismic responses to mining. In late 2015, he was awarded his PhD (Civil and Resource Engineering) for his thesis entitled ‘Identification and Delineation of Mining Induced Seismic Responses’. Kyle has been involved in various ACG projects including the Mine Seismicity and Rockburst Risk Management project and the mXrap Consortium. Kyle was project leader for the ACG Stope Reconciliation and Optimisation Research project from 2016 to 2019. He is currently working on the next phase of this research project along with work associated with the mXrap Consortium.

Administrative Staff

Paul Burnett

Events Officer

Paul’s responsibilities include event sponsorships, speaker communication, preparation of marketing data, as well as audiovisual support.

Garth Doig

Senior Publications Officer

Garth’s responsibilities include the production of ACG conference proceedings, as well as coordinating the ACG websites, multi-media requirements and the Online Repository of Conference Proceedings.

Asher Floyd

Project Officer – mXrap

Asher joined the ACG in 2019 as an Administrative Officer. They hold a Masters in molecular biology from the University of London and has since transferred their interest in data analysis and structural modelling to the mXrap team, where they carry out project support tasks, process development, and consortium onboarding.

Candice McLennan

Marketing Officer (Digital)

Candice undertakes the marketing of ACG conferences and ACG’s range of products and services. She is responsible for graphic design, copywriting, video editing, website design and maintenance, social media management and event coordination.

Christine Neskudla

Business Manager

Christine is responsible for the financial management, reporting and business planning of the Centre, as well as the liaison with the Centre’s Board of Management, Joint Venture Partners and industry.

Josephine Ruddle

Marketing Manager

Josephine’s responsibilities include marketing, communications, brand development, public relations and event management. Jo’s focus is to strengthen the ACG’s position locally and internationally as a leading provider of mining geomechanics information.

Stefania Woodward

Publications Officer

Stefania’s roles include editing and desktop publishing of ACG conference proceedings and reports, publications sales, as well as coordinating the ACG’s Online Repository of Conference Proceedings.

Dr Daniel Cumming-Potvin

Project Lead - mXrap development

Professor Phil Dight

Professor Geotechnical Engineering

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 UWA 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.

Audrey Goulet

Research Fellow

Audrey joined the ACG in 2023 as a research fellow while finishing her PhD degree in mining engineering at Université Laval (Quebec, Canada). The objective of her thesis was to improve understanding of the behaviour of rock mass, such as the seismic responses to development blasts, through an innovative approach to characterise the geotechnical properties of the rock mass. She also completed her master’s degree at Université Laval in mining engineering. This was in partnership with ACG and involved the development of a borehole application. Audrey's bachelor's degree in geological engineering was also through Université Laval. Audrey is a part of the mXrap team and works on the application of probabilistic ground support design tools which is a subproject of the phase 3 of Ground Support Systems Optimisation (GSSO3). She focuses on improving automation in the data input (in the Rock Mass Data Analyser application) and DFN calibration processes.

Paul Harris

Senior Software Engineer - mXrap

Dr Matthew Heinsen Egan

Software Engineer – mXrap

Ai Li (Ellie)

Laboratory Technician

Ellie joined the ACG team in 2016 as a lab technician in the strainburst team. Ellie 's work at ACG includes sample preparation, conducting DRA, BTS, FT, triaxial and post peak testing and processing tests data.

Joseph Justin Muaka Mbenza

Research Fellow – Ground Support Systems Optimisation

Joseph joined the ACG in early 2019 as a research fellow. Previously, Joseph was a senior mining geotechnical engineer for SRK Consulting (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd. He has 15 years of experience in mining and rock mechanics. He was the recipient of the Rauji Foundation award in 2004 for best student, Faculty of Engineering, University of Lubumbashi, and the Chairman award for employee of the year at SRK Consulting (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd in 2016.

Liam Niedzielski

Software Engineer

Liam completed his Bachelor of Science in Physics and Computer Science at The University of Western Australia in 2021. He joined the ACG at the end of 2021 as a software engineer on the mXrap development team. Liam works alongside the geotechnical engineers to develop and maintain mXrap apps, as well as contribute to the libraries available for mXrap developers.

Professor Yves Potvin

Professor of Mining Geomechanics

Yves joined the Australian Centre for Geomechanics at The University of Western Australia in 1998 and was centre director, 2000-2019. He has published more than 100 articles and is the editor/co-editor of 14 conference proceedings and books. Yves has more than 40 years’ experience in rock mechanics and mine design and has previously held managerial positions at Mount Isa Mines, the Noranda Technology Centre and worked as a mining engineer at Noranda Mines, Gaspe Division. He undertakes numerous collaborative industry-focussed research projects and is presently involved with the ACG’s Ground Support Systems Optimisation Project, and the Stope Reconciliation and Optimisation Project. He currently participates in several geotechnical review boards.

Denisha Sewnun

Master's Student and Research Fellow

Denisha has more than 13 years of experience in the geomechanics aspects of open pit and underground mining projects. She has a BSc (honours) degree in Engineering Geology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a Master of Engineering degree in Geomechanics from the University of the Witwatersrand. In 2020, Denisha joined the ACG as a research fellow after having spent eight years providing consulting services for mining projects across Africa. Denisha is currently a Master of Philosophy student involved in the in situ testing of ground support using blasting, which forms part of the Ground Support System Optimisation research project (GSSO3). She also assists with the Discrete Fracture Network/Block Model Limit Equilibrium Ground Support Design Tools research project and is a part of the mXrap team, where she works on the development of the Rock Mass Data Analyser application.

Stuart Tierney

PhD Student and Research Assistant

Stuart graduated from the University of Tasmania in 2011 with a Bachelor of Geotechnical Engineering. He has worked as a geotechnical engineer in Kalgoorlie for nearly five years, mostly focusing on managing seismic risk at Raleigh and Kanowna Belle. He completed a Master of Engineering Science (Mining Geomechanics) at Curtin University in 2016 where his thesis in the final semester was assisted by the ACG. Stuart joined the ACG as a research assistant for the mXrap Consortium in February 2017 and started his PhD in 2018 looking to quantify the risk associated with short-term seismic exclusion zones.

Dr Kyle Woodward

Research Fellow

Kyle was initially associated with the ACG in 2010 through his final year research project for his undergraduate Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) degree at The University of Western Australia. Upon completion of this degree, Kyle undertook postgraduate research with the ACG which focused on time-dependent seismic responses to mining. In late 2015, he was awarded his PhD (Civil and Resource Engineering) for his thesis entitled ‘Identification and Delineation of Mining Induced Seismic Responses’. Kyle has been involved in various ACG projects including the Mine Seismicity and Rockburst Risk Management project and the mXrap Consortium. Kyle was project leader for the ACG Stope Reconciliation and Optimisation Research project from 2016 to 2019. He is currently working on the next phase of this research project along with work associated with the mXrap Consortium.