Keith Whitchurch

Background

About Keith Whitchurch

Keith has more than 40 years of experience in open cut and underground mining. It is over 40 years since he first set foot on a mine and sat down to schedule it. He is still planning and scheduling mines today. He holds a Master degree in Geostatistics and Resource classification that predates the JORC code. His first peer reviewed papers on the matter date from 1986. He has had a continuous involvement in Resource and Reserve estimation across numerous commodities globally since 1985. His first peer reviewed paper on the application of artificial intelligence in mining was presented at APCOM 1996. He has had a continuous and deep involvement in innovation in mining and the application of mathematical techniques to modelling and optimisation for almost 4 decades. He is a member of the AusIMM, a Chartered Professional, a Registered Professional Engineer (Queensland), a member of Perhimpunan Ahli Pertambangan Indonesia (PERHAPI), a Competent Person Indonesia (CPI) and a Professional Engineer Indonesia (PII). Keith specialises in mine transformation and his expertise includes geological modelling, reserves evaluation, pit optimisation, mine design, equipment selection, mine scheduling, backfill design and planning, project costing and economics. Keith has worked on projects in many countries including Australia, India, Japan, Jordan, Indonesia, China as well as across the continents of Africa and North and South America. He has authored reports that underpin over USD 15 Billion in transactions, stood as expert witness on 3 continents and realised order of magnitude transformations in mining projects over 3 decades. For the Keith has served as the mining representative on the Chartered Professional Program Committee of the AusIMM from 2018 to 2020