Our People

From the Directors to the staff,  H&SC employees have a vast and diverse range of experience in mineral mining and exploration. Here are some brief descriptions of the experience and capabilities of our technical personnel:

Luke Burlet

BSc (Hons), MAIG, PGeol (APEGA), PGeo (BCPEG)

Luke is a director and consulting geologist based in H&SC ‘s Sydney office. He has worked with Uranerz, B.P. Selco, Placer Dome, Trigg Woollett Olson Consulting and FSSI Consultants Canada. He has over thirty years experience on a wide variety of mining and exploration projects in Australia, Canada, USA, South America, China and South East Asia. He is a Competent Person for reporting of resource estimates under the JORC 2012 Code & Guidelines.

Luke’s work with these companies and expertise includes:

  • geostatistical data analysis, data compilation and verification, metallic mineral resource estimations and geological interpretations
  • direction of exploration and drilling programs with budgets from $14,000 up to $5M and supervision of a staff of up to 40 people
  • exploration work on gold, porphyry copper, PGE, base metals, and uranium projects in North America, South America, Philippines, Lao PDR, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and China.
  • training industry personnel and internal company employees on the topics of exploration databases, computer applications, organisational management and project budgeting/cost tracking
  • review and audit of ore resource calculations for the mining industry
  • geostatistical analysis and data verification of analytical laboratory check studies
  • design and implementation of computer-based databases using products such as Microsoft ACCESS and Microsoft SQLServer
  • Micromine, MapInfo, Access/SQLServer software training to industry and internal company personnel.
  • development of Windows based mining and exploration systems, in particular innovative and cost effective data solutions for clients

Arnold van der Heyden

BSc, MAusIMM (CP-Geo), MAIG

Arnold van der Heyden is a director of H&SC in their Sydney office and works as a consulting geologist. He has over thirty years’ experience in resource evaluation and mine geology. Since graduating with a BSc degree from the University of Melbourne he has worked for North, BHP, MMM and Savage River Mines. His work has encompassed a wide variety of commodities and types of deposits, both in Australia and overseas. He is a Competent Person for reporting of resource estimates under the JORC 2012 Code & Guidelines.

His work with these companies and H&SC includes:

  • Resource estimation of gold, silver-lead-zinc, copper, nickel, iron ore and uranium in a variety of projects in a number of countries including Australia, Argentina, Uruguay, DRC, Namibia, Laos, Philippines, Romania, Jordan, Canada and Mexico.
  • Geostatistical analysis and estimation, including variography, ordinary and indicator kriging.
  • Due diligence and feasibility studies on copper, gold and iron ore deposits.
  • Comprehensive experience in mine geology, including grade control and mine to mill reconciliation.
  • Audit of resource estimates and mine geology systems.
  • Design, implementation and management of drilling programs.
  • Assessment of quality control issues such as drill hole sampling, assay accuracy and precision.
  • Advice and preparation of JORC and NI43-101 compliant resource reports.
  • Expertise in using Datamine (including macros) and other mining software.

Simon Tear

BSc (Hons), MAusIMM, PGeo IGI

Simon Tear is a director of H&SC in their Brisbane office who has a BSc (Hons) in Mining Geology from The Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, London, UK and has over thirty years’ worldwide experience in the mineral exploration and mining industry. He is a member of the IOM3 (25 years), the AusIMM (16 years), the Institute of Geologists of Ireland (PGEO 20 years) and the European Federation of Geologists (20 years). He is a Competent Person for resource estimation under the JORC 2012 Code & Guidelines. His experience consists of:

  • 14 years involvement in the resource estimation process including being a member of a Feasibility Study team.
  • Completion of a series of resource estimates (>80) for a range of commodities including gold, copper, lead/zinc, tungsten, nickel, and iron (DSO & magnetite) deposits in a variety of countries including Australia, Albania, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Philippines, Mongolia, PNG, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia.
  • Experienced with a variety of resource modelling techniques
  • Technical assessment/due diligence for >10 deposits & mines plus >5 Independent Geologists Reports for IPO’s
  • Exploration experience for a range of commodities in a variety of geological terranes.
  • 3.5 years’ experience as Senior Development Geologist and Acting Chief Geologist for Birla Minerals Mt Gordon Copper Operations, NW Queensland.
  • 15 years’ exploration experience with RTZ/CRAE/Rio Tinto, mainly field-based, including 8 years of project generation.