Rate My Professor Andre Van As

Professor Andre van As serves as Professor of Deep Mining Geoscience and Group Leader of the Deep Mining Geoscience group at the WH Bryan Mining Geology Research Centre within the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland. Appointed in 2021 as the inaugural Professor of Mining Geoscience with support from The Bryan Foundation, he possesses over 30 years of experience as an underground mine geotechnical engineer specializing in mass underground mining, particularly caving operations and projects. He directs Van As Geotechnical Engineering, a consultancy providing technical expertise to the cave mining industry, and serves on multiple cave mining geotechnical review boards. As a guest lecturer at the University of Queensland since 2015, he has contributed to education in caving geomechanics and caving engineering. His research focuses on deep mining geoscience, encompassing geo-risks, mine design, operations in deep cave mines, height of draw verification, panel versus block caving philosophies, microseismic monitoring, cave flow monitoring, preconditioning efficiency, and ground support systems.

Professor van As has authored or co-authored 37 works from 1994 to 2024, including key publications such as 'Discovery and Underground Mining of Large Deposits: Essential Training to Ensure Copper Supply' (2024, SEG Discovery), 'Sufficient geotechnical data for reliable mine design' (2024, Massmin), 'Understanding the complex interactions between geo-risks, mine design and operation in deep cave mines' (2023, World Mining Congress), 'Future of mining and geology: increase in the use of cave mining methods to extract ore over the next 30 years' (2023, SEG Discovery), 'Geotechnical engineering for mass mining' (2020, SEG Discovery), and 'The design and operating philosophies of panel vs block caving' (2020). He received a CSIRO medal in 2001 and leads major funding initiatives, including the Deep Mining Geology Initiative (2021-2028, funded by The Bryan Foundation) and Newcrest-UQ Higher Degree Research Projects in Cave Mining (2019-2027). Professor van As has supervised higher degree research theses, such as a 2025 MPhil on operational benchmarking for undercutting in high-stress cave mines and a 2014 PhD on gravity flow of rock in caving mines. His contributions extend to industry training through the South Gobi Underground Mass Mining Institute and committee roles in organizations like the Australian Centre for Geomechanics Caving Committee, influencing advancements in safe and efficient deep cave mining practices worldwide.