Celebrating Our 2025 Associates
June 17, 2025
We’re proud to announce the appointment of our 2025 Associates, a group of emerging leaders who exemplify collaboration, professionalism, and a deep understanding of our business.
ASSOCIATES
David Cooper, CEng.
David is a Senior Geotechnical Engineer that has worked on mining projects in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, providing geotechnical support and project management for tailings facility design, waste rock dump design, mine infrastructure and mine plant site design from planning stages through to operational support. David’s technical expertise includes: TSF locations studies, planning and costing, TSF auditing, TSF Design, slope stability, DSRs and seepage modelling.
Rafael Monroy, PhD., C.Eng., M.I.C.E., P.E.
Rafael is a Senior Geotechnical Engineer with 20 years of consultancy and academic experience focused on mine-waste storage facilities, embankment dams, hydropower projects, foundations, and offshore geotechnics. He has worked in the United Kingdom, Spain, Canada, Argentina, India and the United Arab Emirates. Rafael is a registered professional civil engineer in Arizona (USA), the UK and Spain. He is currently appointed to the Panel of Supervising Engineers set up under the UK’s Reservoirs Act 1975. He has led and served on third-party dam safety and independent review boards for multiple tailings and water dams.
Kim MacKenzie, P.Biol.
Kim is a Senior Vegetation Ecologist and Authenticating Wetland Professional with over 20 years’ consulting experience. Kim specializes in regulatory compliance, environmental assessments, and mine/asset closure planning within a GIS framework. She assists clients with regulatory challenges while effectively building relationships with project stakeholders and team members. In addition to being an effective project manager, she has extensive experience leading and conducting reclamation evaluations, wetland classification surveys, vegetation and invasive species assessments, baseline soil surveys, ecosite classifications, pre-disturbance assessments, and rare plant surveys for municipal, transportation, hydropower, mining, irrigation, and oil sands clients.
Nicholas Kent, CPEng, RPEQ.
Nicholas is a Senior Civil Engineer with over 9 years of experience focusing on mine water management and mine waste management. His technical experience includes the planning and design of management of tailings storage facilities, evaluation of tailings technologies, non-Newtonian dam breach modelling, flood hydrology and flood modelling. He is an experienced technical lead and project manager, and he has been involved in the successful delivery of projects across Australasia from concept design to detailed design and execution.
Leandro Santos, CPEng, RPEQ
Leandro is a Senior Geotechnical Engineer with 17 years of international consultancy experience, specialising in tailings dams, water dams, and hydropower projects. He has been involved in all project phases—from conceptual and feasibility studies to detailed design and construction oversight—across South and Central America, Australia, and Papua New Guinea. Leandro’s expertise includes the design of embankments, cofferdams, earthworks, retaining structures, and foundation treatments. He is well-versed in slope stability, seepage, geosynthetics, instrumentation, and dam safety reviews. His portfolio also includes tailings dam audits and decommissioning designs, supported by a background in both laboratory and field soil testing.
Abrelle Poole
Abrelle is an experienced Lead Closure Specialist with a strong track record in providing high-quality services and advice and delivering compliance, management, and relinquishment outcomes in 20 years’ experience in the resources sector. She has operational experience on three continents and wide-reaching consulting experience. Based in Australia for over 12 years, Abby has been responsible for projects and submissions to and for Queensland and New South Wales regulators including rehabilitation security estimates, audits of approvals and associated documents, and management plan reviews. She has also managed and supported development of closure plans and closure designs from concept to detailed to align with company and international standards and practices. Additionally, Abby has held multiple secondment roles with top-tier mining companies to lead mine closure and environmental initiatives for these companies. Abby has presented on environmental lessons from tailings dam failure, risk-based integrated closure planning, and GIS for accurate cost estimation among other topics.
Adam Deacon
Adam is a Senior Geotechnical Engineer with over 20 years’ experience providing engineering geology, geotechnical design, construction supervision, project management, team leadership and office management, including over 10 years within the mining and dam sector. This experience has been gained in the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, the Middle East and Africa. Adam is experienced in a range of projects including tailings and water storage dams, surface water management, oil and gas, ports, large-scale infrastructure projects such as highways and railways, numerous industrial, commercial and residential developments and expert witness cases.
José Mendoza, MSc.
José is a Senior Hydrotechnical/Civil Engineer specializing in sustainable water resources and has a master's degree in hydraulic engineering. He has 18 years of professional experience in hydraulics, hydrology, and water resource management. In mining projects, he has participated in hydrological, climatological, and sedimentological studies, as well as in the development of management plans, water balances, basin balances, dam risk analyses, and climate change assessments. He has also developed hydraulic infrastructure designs and physical and mathematical hydraulic modeling.
Jackeline Huertas, CREA, CIP
Jackeline is a Senior Geotechnical Engineer with extensive field and analytical experience across the mining, civil, and maritime sectors. She has developed several earthquake geotechnical projects in Brazil and Peru, in seismic hazard analysis, liquefaction assessment, and advanced numerical modeling using tools like FLAC, Plaxis, and Rocscience. At KCB, she contributes to upstream TSF de-characterization projects and serves as a reviewer for geotechnical analyses. In addition to her engineering work, Jackeline co-advises graduate research and participates in academic qualification committees for MSc and DSc programs.
Brendan Gibbs, P.Geo.
Brendan is a Senior Hydrogeologist and project manager with Klohn Crippen Berger’s Mining Environmental Group, based in Vancouver, Canada. He has thirteen years of experience in hydrogeological consulting for a variety of mining and infrastructure clients. He has been involved in the planning, design, installation and monitoring of several tailings seepage mitigation systems, depressurization systems, and dewatering systems for large mining projects across North America.
Ari Arefnia, P.Eng.
Ari is a Senior Structural Engineer with 29 years of professional experience in various areas of structural and earthquake engineering, including infrastructure and industrial design. He is proficient in structural steel, concrete and wood analysis and design, and has an in-depth knowledge of structural seismic behaviour. He is experienced in leading large multidisciplinary teams and has extensive knowledge of project and construction management. He is proficient with structural design software programs, including SAP 2000, SAFE, ETABS, STADD Pro, Mathcad and AutoCAD.
Iman Roshanzamir, P.Eng., MSc.
Iman is a senior Geotechnical Engineer and Project Coordinator/Manager with over 20 years of expertise in civil and geotechnical engineering, with a focus on dam design, earthworks, and construction supervision. He holds MSc degree in Geotechnical Engineering from Imperial College London (with Distinction) and BSc degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Tehran, Iran. Iman has successfully led large-scale infrastructure projects across Canada, the UK, Oman, and Iran with leading firms including KCB, Jacobs, Atkins, Balfour Beatty, and Stucky. With a proven track record in both consulting and construction environments, he excels at coordinating multidisciplinary teams and delivering technically sound, cost-effective solutions and combines strong technical skills with financial acumen and a collaborative leadership style to drive project success.