Christina Dahnér has a MSc in mining engineering/rock mechanics from Luleå University of Technology. She has over 30 years of experience in rock mechanics at different positions both in the production line and R&D at LKABs underground mines in Kiruna and Malmberget. In the beginning of her career, she was working with slope stability with regard to subsidence on the hanging walls as well as stability of infrastructure in the footwall. She also worked with sequencing of the production for both sublevel stoping and sublevel caving from a rock mechanical stability perspective as well as with regard to seismic risk. During the last 15 years her main interest has been mine seismology, analysing seismic activity/large seismic events and its relation to mining sequence, large scale geological structures and mine infrastructure. For the last years, most of her time has been spent on both the theory and the application of hydraulic fracturing as a seismic hazard mitigation tool.
Chun’an Tang is the Professor of Dalian University of Technology. He graduated from the Mining Engineering Department of Central South University in China in 1982 and obtained his MSc and PhD degrees from Northeastern University in China in 1984 and 1988, respectively. In 1991-1992, he continued his post-doctoral fellow research at Imperial College, London, UK. He is a Cheung Kong Scholar Chair Professor, and the Principal Investigator of the National Key Basic Research Program of China (973 Program). He was a member of the evaluation committee of the fifth group of Geology, Mining and Mineral Oil of the State Council, Vice President of the Chinese Society of Rock Mechanics & Engineering (CSRME), Associate Editor of Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, and editorial member of International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences and GeoMechanics and GeoEngineering. He has published more than 400 technical papers on the topic. He is an author of five books on rock mechanics (in Chinese) and the lead author of the Rock Failure Mechanism published by CRC (Taylor & Francis Group, 2010, UK). He is a recipient of the second prize of the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award of China and seven other provincial and ministerial Awards of Scientific and Technological Achievements. In 1994, he was supported by the Trans-Century Training Programme Foundation for the Talents of the State Education Commission, and the winner of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars in 1995. He also received the 4th China Youth Science and Technology Award and has been on Elsevier's list of Chinese Most Cited Researchers in Earth and Planetary Science for seven consecutive years. He is primarily involved in researching rock failure mechanisms, analysis, and monitoring techniques. He introduced the RFPA numerical simulation method for analyzing rock fracture processes and developed a rock engineering dynamic disaster early warning technology based on microseismic monitoring techniques. In recent years, he has been devoted to geoscientific thinking based on mechanics and has employed the original RFPA numerical analysis method to simulate the fracturing of the Earth's lithosphere, identifying the fracturing pattern in early Earth evolution. He has proposed a new theory of Earth evolution driven by thermal processes, referred to as "the Breakup of Earth" theory.
Dr. Gisela Viegas is a leading seismologist at Newmont Corporation, where she specializes in seismic hazard assessment and monitoring for large-scale mining operations, with a primary focus on underground block and sublevel caving projects.
Her work focuses on integrating advanced geophysical techniques and numerical modeling to better understand mining-induced seismicity and improve operational safety.
With a strong academic background in geophysics and seismology, Dr. Viegas has authored numerous technical papers on topics such as moment tensor inversion, cave front tracking, and the use of seismic velocity fields to monitor cave development. In addition to her mining expertise, she has contributed to seismic monitoring in the geothermal and oil & gas sectors, where she worked on induced seismicity and reservoir characterization.
She is a frequent presenter at international conferences and actively collaborates with researchers and engineers to develop physics-based tools for seismic risk management in highstress underground environments.
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Dr. Erik Eberhardt, P.Eng., is a Professor of Geological Engineering and Rock Mechanics at The University of British Columbia (UBC). He began his research career with Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting at the Trout Lake Mine in Flin Flon, Manitoba, investigating sill pillar failures in open stopes. He later completed a Ph.D. in collaboration with Canada’s Underground Research Laboratory, focusing on brittle fracture processes and rock strength degradation critical to the long-term stability of nuclear waste repositories.
Following his Ph.D., Dr. Eberhardt spent six years as a senior researcher at the ETH Zurich in Switzerland,
leading several major rock engineering investigations, including studies of high-stress conditions and
ground response mechanisms in the Gotthard Base Tunnel. He joined UBC in 2004, where he now leads
a large, multidisciplinary research group. His team specializes in the integration of geological data,
advanced rock mechanics testing, innovative geotechnical monitoring, and cutting-edge numerical
modelling to better understand complex rock mass behaviour in deep mining environments.
Dr. Eberhardt has authored more than 250 technical publications. He previously served as Associate
Director of the Rio Tinto Centre for Underground Mine Construction (RTC-UMC) and is currently a
member of the leadership team of the International Caving Research Network (ICaRN), where he leads
research on strainbursting and wet muck hazards, including at the DMLZ and GBC Grasberg operations
in Indonesia.
A registered Professional Engineer, Dr. Eberhardt has served as an expert on deep tunnelling and mining projects across North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. His contributions to the field have been widely recognized, including the Canadian Geotechnical Society’s John A. Franklin Award for outstanding contributions to rock engineering and Thomas Roy Award for excellence in engineering geology, and the Canadian Institute of Mining’s Rock Mechanics Award, honouring his significant and lasting impact on the mining industry.
Musa Manzi completed his PhD degree in geophysics in 2013 at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is an Associate Professor in Geophysics and a Founding Director of the Wits Seismic Research Centre. Manzi’s fundamental, innovative and outstanding contributions to geosciences are concerned with the development of innovative, cost-effective, and environmentally-friendly tools and solutions for geophysical exploration to gain a deeper understanding of Earth processes, particularly in exploring for natural resources in South Africa and beyond. His work benefits the people of Africa in various ways: application of Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) and wireless sensing methods to the African cratons and basins facilitates exploration for deep-seated precious and base metal deposits and energy resources, while his curiosity-driven studies of phenomena such as methane gas origin, migration and explosions, earthquakes and rockbursts assist mining companies and government to develop mitigation strategies (protecting miners). Musa and his students have developed prototype instruments for geophysical data acquisition and mathematical algorithms to extract new information from large data that were collected decades ago by government agencies and mining companies to explore for mineral resources, support safe and efficient mining, and assess and mitigate geohazards. The work has received considerable scientific recognition, and the methods have been widely applied by industry. Musa is the scientific coordinator of several research projects, including the Eramin FuTuRe Project, an international consortium project that aims to develop novel seismic methods to improve mine safety.
Raul is Mining Engineer and PhD from the University of Queensland. Currently he is Associated
professor at the University of Chile and Principal Consultant at BCTEC. At the University of Chile, Raul is the leader of the Codelco - Block Caving Laboratory at the University of Chile which has in the last years contributed to different areas including caving, gravity flow, wet muck modelling, mine development, new material handling systems design. This research has resulted in new knowledge published in more than 40 publications in international journals and several in Conferences related to mining. At BCTEC, Raul has been consultant of different mine operations that uses underground methods including El Teniente and Chuquicamata in Chile, Cadia East in Australia, Cerro Lindo, Simsa and Nazareth in Peru among others.
