Pre-Conference Workshops

Native Title in the NT: Negotiating Successful Outcomes

In this half-day workshop:

> Get the answers - where, when, why, how and who?
> Learn what the law requires you to do and how it has been applied in practice in meeting native title obligations
> Understand the key factors in negotiating successful outcomes for all parties for mining operations
> Identify the hurdles you will need to overcome in reaching and then implementing agreements
> Discuss and learn from other participants about their experience and knowledge on this critical area

About your Workshop leaders:
Ewan Vickery, Partner, Minter Ellison

Ewan is recognised as a senior commercial lawyer having more than 30 years’ specialist experience, both in Australia and internationally, in corporate and business law, mining, oil and gas projects a wide variety of commercial and business transactions, land access and foreign investment.

He successfully represented 16 minerals explorers in pioneering South Australia’s unique native title ‘Right to Negotiate’ procedure for minerals exploration in 1997, and has completed over 100 similar agreements since then.

The EIS Challenge: Laying the Foundation for Timely Delivery

In this half-day workshop:

The object is deceptively simple: to inform the Minister and stakeholders of potential impacts. The process is often not so simple.

This workshop will in conjunction with key regulators explore how to achieve sufficient clarity in a time frame that suits the proponent’s needs.

The workshop will analyse the framework for the EIS process, explore case studies and answer your questions on delivering an EIS.

About your Workshop leaders:
Judith Bradsen, Partner, Minter Ellison Lawyers

Judith's practice includes environmental, climate change and planning law, heritage law (including Aboriginal heritage), water resources law and administrative law generally.

Having previously worked for eight years at the Crown Solicitor’s Office, Judith has a solid understanding of the various administrative practices and policy imperatives of the relevant government regulators. She has a sound track record in the successful delivery of sustainable projects.

Judith provides representation and advice to the energy and resources sector, manufacturing, waste management and property development.


Chris MacHunter, Principal Hydrogeologist/Geophysicist, Manager, URS Corp

Chris is Manager of the URS Darwin Office, whose career has spanned 15 years, predominately in hydrogeological services for groundwater resource development and management for public utilities, agriculture and industry. Chris has considerable experience in the mining sector, that includes mine water supply, mine dewatering and water management. Chris’s most recent work relates to the determination of groundwater impacts and management associated with development of groundwater resources, mine dewatering and tailings during Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA). Chris has been involved in numerous (EIAs) for greenfields and brownfields sites in Western Australia and the Northern Territory including base metal, mineral sands and gold mines.