Team and partners

Visit to the LIFE RIBERMINE project with some members of the group and collaborators.

Valley hunters. Searching for natural analogues to be replicated in Geomorphic Restoration in northern Sweden.

Speakers at the International Course on Geomorphic Restoration and Landscape Evolution Modelling at the UCM, September 2018, with the Dean of the Faculty of Geology, Lorena Ortega.

Sandbox that simulates geomorphic restoration designs. CCV-Lousal.

Members of the group and collaborators, at the Faculty of Geology UCM - May 2024

José Francisco Martín Duque

Direction Restauración Geomorfológica®

Professor of Geomorphology at the Faculty of Geological Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid. He has an extensive academic career (teaching, research, transfer and management) since 1995, when he began his work as a university professor. Features of this work include: 3 six-year terms of research and 1 of transfer; 6 co-directed doctoral theses; co-inventor of 2 patents; director of numerous research and transfer projects; and co-author of dozens of publications and contributions to conferences. His academic and professional work has always focused on the incorporation of ecological principles from geomorphology in land and landscape management and restoration. Specifically, the main objective has been to promote the change to a much more sustainable model for the way in which earthworks are developed (mining, civil works and urbanism), by introducing design solutions and restoration of degraded spaces from geomorphology. From the transfer of geomorphic restoration solutions to numerous companies and public administrations, both in Spain and in many other countries, and always as an amalgamating work, Restauración Geomorfológica® was born.

María Tejedor Palomino

Technical Direction Restauración Geomorfológica® Design

Graduated in Geology from the Complutense University of Madrid. Substitute Professor of Geomorphology at the Faculty of Geological Sciences of the UCM. Expert in design, implementation monitoring and training with GeoFluv-Natural Regrade methodology, a field in which she has more than 15 years of experience. During this time, she has developed numerous national and international geomorphic restoration projects, and has participated as Research Support Staff in several LIFE projects.

Restauración Geomorfológica® team

Cristina Martín Moreno

Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Geological Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid. She is a specialist in the quantification of water erosion, in soil management in geomorphic restoration, and in the monitoring of its evolution, areas of knowledge in which she teaches university master’s degree courses. Expert in the direction and management of LIFE projects, a field in which she has co-led the renowned LIFE RIBERMINE project.

Ramón Sánchez Donoso

Graduated in Geology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and PhD in Geology from the Complutense University of Madrid. He works as a consultant, between the partners VAST (Sweden) and Restauración Geomorfológica®. He has academic and professional experience in the field of geomorphic restoration, in both national and international projects, with a special focus on the study of natural analogues for geomorphic restoration.

Miguel Ángel Sanz Santos

Associate Professor at the Faculty of Geological Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid. Expert in geoinformatics, a field in which he has been teaching for more than 30 years. He is proficient in a wide range of computational languages and computer software, from where he contributes to geomorphological restoration projects.

José Manuel Nicolau Ibarra

PhD in Biological Sciences. Professor of Ecology at the Zaragoza University. Previously, lecturer at the Alcalá de Henares University, researcher at three Spanish research centers (CSIC) and visitor for a year at Kings College London (UK). Specialized in Ecohydrology, particularly in reclaimed areas with geomorphological restoration. He is a pioneer in Spain in the study of erosion in mining areas and his papers are widely referenced globally. He has participated in three EU LIFE projects and in numerous national research projects and transfer contracts. He is president of the Aragon Nature Protection Council.

Saturnino de Alba Alonso

Biologist, PhD in Sciences and full professor at the Faculty of Geological Sciences, UCM. He has developed an extensive research and academic career in subjects related to Soil Sciences. He has participated in numerous European and national projects as a specialist in degradation processes due to water and mechanical erosion. In the last decade, he has been more dedicated to soil restoration objectives in slopes in civil works infrastructures and in geomorphic restoration projects in mining. He is the main inventor of two patents on surface decompaction and runoff management in artificial slopes.

International partners

GeoFluv partners

Nicholas Bugosh (GeoFluv, United States)

Geomorphologist and hydrologist. Inventor of the GeoFluvTM method, patented in the USA, and of the Natural Regrade software, tools that have revolutionized the international geomorphic restoration scene. He runs his own company, GeoFluv, with which four other global partners are associated. Nicholas worked as a mining surveyor in the state of Montana (USA), which enabled him to identify the factors that conditioned water erosion of conventional topographic designs, and those that ensured long-term stability, from which he developed GeoFluv – Natural Regrade. In the early 2000s he was able to apply the method to large coal operations in the United States, with BHP (La Plata or San Juan), restoration projects that happen to be the best international examples using this technique. Nicholas is a pioneer and world reference in geomorphic restoration.

GeoFluv

VAST - Matt Baida and Frida Holst (Sweden)

Founded by landscape architects Matt Baida and Frida Holst, VAST is a boutique consultancy specialized in mine closure and landform design. They help companies such as LKAB recreate their landscape and in the process achieve their closure goals. Mine closure done right leads to stable and sustainable landscapes, permit approvals and stronger relationships with regulators, local groups and indigenous communities.

VAST

Rod Eckels (Landforma, Australia)

Australian surveyor specializing in GPS automatic machine guidance systems. While working in the US, Rod met Nicholas Bugosh, who was working on the restoration of the La Plata mine (New Mexico), where GPS automatic guidance was a critical technology for the construction of complex landforms. Rod was impressed by the geomorphic restoration projects in the USA, and on his return to Australia, established the company Landforma, dedicated to promoting the GeoFluv method. Recently he has been working on developing GeoFluv® training materials.

Landforma

Eugene Schutte (Mining Resource Consultancy, South Africa)

South African engineer and consultant with over 40 years’ experience in the mining sector. He has recognized experience in leading mining operations. He specializes in geological modeling, mine planning, risk assessment and optimization of underground and surface mining. He is also an outstanding trainer of professionals and teams. In summary, Eugene is an authority in the South African mining landscape, where he is introducing the geomorphic restoration approach.

Mining Resource Consultancy

Habitual partners

Paul Royal (France)

Geological engineer with over 40 years’ experience, specializing in geotechnics, hydrogeology, geological prospecting, mining and environmental impact. He is the inventor of the Talus Royal® method, widely used by public administrations in France to ‘sculpt’ naturalized rock escarpments on the slopes of roads and motorways. He is a consultant and expert in complex geological issues and conflicts in France. He is a strong promoter of a new way of moving earth, much more respectful towards the landscape.

Greg Hancock (Australia)

Associate Professor at the University of Newcastle (Australia) and consultant, with over 30 years of experience. Greg is currently the world’s leading expert in the use of the SIBERIA model, but also uses CAESAR-Lisflood. Greg has published over 120 scientific papers, mostly related to erosional stability of mining landscapes. He has worked in a wide variety of environments and mines around the world.

Other international partners

Thomas Baumgarlt (Australia)

Professor and co-director of the Future Regions Research Centre at Federation University. Thomas has a degree in Geo-ecology and is an experienced environmental scientist with specialization in soil hydrology and physics and soil mechanics. He has worked previously at the University of Kiel, Germany and at the Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation at the University of Queensland, Australia. His research interests focus on mine closure and solutions for construction of stable landforms. Thomas is Editor-in-Chief for the Cambridge University Press Journal Mine Closure and Transitions.

Harley Lacy (Australia)

Harley has over 30 years’ experience in mine rehabilitation and closures around the world, as founder of an environmental company. He was the lead editor of the 2016 handbook on Mine Closure, published by the Australian Government. He has always had a particular interest in ensuring that the rehabilitation and management of mine waste and tailings ponds aligns with geomorphic designs, which led him to set up the company Landform Solutions. Alongside other environmental activities, Harley’s leitmotiv has always been to encourage mining to provide a positive legacy to society beyond the operation.

Les Sawatsky (Canada)

Senior civil engineer and director of Teleo Engineeering. He has nearly 50 years of experience in planning mine closures of all types (uranium, coal, metal and oil sands) and in all types of environments (temperate, tropical and arctic). He is a pioneer in the inclusion of a geomorphic approach, which minimizes erosion and includes sustainable drainage system design, in mine closures and rehabilitation, having led its successful implementation in Canada and the United States. His articles on the subject are a world reference.

Neeltje Slingerland (Canada)

National mine closure practice lead for WSP in Canada. With a background in landscape architecture and geosciences, she has over 15 years of experience in landform and drainage design. She specializes in Landscape Evolution Modelling (LEM), erosion prediction and geomorphic design of Tailing Storage Facilities (TSF) and waste rock dumps. She has participated in projects in North and South America, Europe and Australia. She also has an extensive curriculum teaching graduate-level courses on landform design, terrain analysis, and integrated mine closure. She is co-author of international manuals on these subjects.

Chris Waygood (Australia)

Senior civil engineer with the multinational WSP with over 40 years of mining experience in South Africa and Australia, specializing in erosion stability, hydrological management and river diversions. Chris is currently leading geomorphic restoration in Australia, where he has successfully introduced this approach to a very large number of mines in the Hunter Valley (New South Wales), from where he is expanding his practice to the entire Australian continent.

Pete Whitbread-Abrutat (United Kingdom)

PhD from the University of Exeter, specializing in revegetation of mining areas. Environmental mining consultant through his company Future Terrains with over 30 years’ experience. He was a key player in the Eden Project restoration project, which he was part of for many years. He is co-author of the acclaimed book 102 Things to Do with a Hole in the Ground. As a Churchill Fellow, he has travelled the world visiting the best examples of Mining Restoration.

David Williams (Australia)

Creator and Director of the Geotechnical Engineering Centre at the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia), where he is a Professor and manager of the Large Open Pit Project. He has over 40 years of teaching, research and consulting experience. David is internationally recognized for his expertise and experience in mine waste management and mine closure, and is particularly recognized for his expertise in tailings dam closure and rehabilitation, a topic where he has always been interested in adopting and promoting geomorphic approaches. He is a frequent member of international panels investigating the technical causes of mining disasters, such as the Brumadinho Tailings Dam I failure in Brazil in 2019.

Habitual partners from Spain

Ernest Bladé i Castellet

Professor of Hydraulic Engineering at the Barcelona School of Civil Engineering of the Polytechnics University of Catalonia. The result of his thesis and its transfer to the natural resource and engineering sectors is the creation of the IBER open channel flow model, developed jointly with the GEAMA group of the Coruña University and CIMNE (International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering), with the support of CEDEX. Since 2018 he is Director of the Flumen Joint Research Institute (UPC-CIMNE). He has participated in several European and national projects, as well as in numerous research contracts funded by administrations and companies. He stands out, above all, for introducing an ecological approach in his Hydraulic Engineering activities.

Ignacio Mola Caballero de Rodas

Recognized expert in ecological restoration (ER) with more than 20 years of experience. He created the first ER section of spaces affected by civil works in a multinational construction company, where he developed six large industrial research projects (€3.5 million). He is editor and co-author of the most important national institutional publications on ER: Guía Práctica de Restauración Ecológica and Restauración Ecológica. Ejemplos de Bases Técnicas y Soluciones Prácticas (Biodiversity Foundation and Spanish Ministry of Environment – under different names).

Javier de La Villa Albares

PhD in Mining Engineering from the UPM. Civil servant of the State Mining Engineers Body (Spain) since 1987, Head of the Mining Service of the Junta de Comunidades de Castile-La Mancha from 1994 to 2023. He was General Director of Industry and Energy of the Autonomous Community of Castile-La Mancha from September 2000 to July 2003. Associate Professor at the Castile-La Mancha University in various subjects in the Degree of Environmental Sciences and of several Master’s Degrees, such as the University Degree in Mining Engineering.

Beatriz Olmo Gilabert

Forestry Engineer, European Master in Forest Resources Management MEDFOR, specialized in restoration of degraded areas, with more than 15 years of experience in mining restoration. Coordinator of a European reference project, LIFE TECMINE, awarded by the EU. Currently, Technical Director of the Spanish Mines and Quarries Restoration Network.

Adrián González Ruiz

Environmental and sustainability expert with almost 20 years of experience, leading environmental management in large companies in the mining and industrial sector. Specialist in the design, execution and monitoring of ecological restoration projects and biodiversity plans at an international level. He stands out for his multidisciplinary approach and his commitment to the necessary change of paradigm that the mining sector needs with regard to its rehabilitation.

Raúl de Tapia Martín - FUNDACIÓN TORMES

Biologist and director of the Tormes Foundation – EB, with which he has created a comprehensive biodiversity management system for national and multinational companies in the aggregates and cement sector. They have innovated in mining restoration, developing new revegetation and rewilding techniques. Over the last 24 years, they have worked with the conservation, business and institutional sectors implementing this methodology, which has allowed intervention in 42 operations in 10 autonomous communities with an affected area of 1700 hectares. The team has received numerous awards, including the brand new MITECO National Environment Award 2023.

Experts in Geochemistry UCM-UCLM-URJC

M. Luz García Lorenzo, Elena Crespo Feo and José María Esbrí Víctor (Faculty of Geological Sciences, UCM), Pablo L. Higueras Higueras (UCLM), and F. Javier Lillo Ramos (URJC) are university professors with extensive teaching, research and professional experience in topics related to environmental and mining geochemistry focused on evaluation and remediation of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD). With the first three we share the teaching of a subject called Restoration in Mining (Master’s Degree in Environmental Geology). Pioneering together in Europe, we have all participated and are participating in several projects that have combined geomorphological restoration and chemical remediation solutions, such as the interventions of Lousal (Grándola, Portugal), or San Quintín (Villamayor de Calatrava, Ciudad Real).

David Jiménez Molina

Associate Professor at the Faculty of Geological Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid and recognized national expert in geotechnics, a field in which he has participated in more than 400 projects. Many of these are of great importance in the field of transport infrastructure, such as high-speed and conventional railroads, subways, roads, freeways, highways and airports. Renowned also for hydraulic works, urbanization, environment and mining, and within the latter carrying out comparative stability evaluations on the safety factors of conventional topographic and geomorphological designs, in which the result has always revealed a greater geotechnical stability of the geomorphological solutions.

SIGMATEC Medio Ambiente - Raquel López y Pablo Sánchez

Consultancy firm with 20 years of experience in the study of the territory through the landscape and the natural environment. Experts in land characterization according to different landscape aspects, in the determination of alternatives for the optimal location of activities, impact assessment and the drafting of restoration projects. Their work on landscape for the Autonomous Regions of Navarre, Cantabria, Aragon, La Rioja, Extremadura and the Basque Country is noteworthy.

Other significant collaborators

María Alcázar Torralba, Javier Álvarez González, Mairena Álvarez de la Rosa, Rafael Anchía Preadillo, José Anchía Pradillo, Eduardo Arellano Ogaz, Quico Balaguer Núñez, Melanie Ball, Rosa María Carrasco González, Miguel Ángel Casado González, Centro de Ciencia Viva de Lousal – CCVL (Portugal), Ivón Cermeño Martín, , Andrés Díez Herrero, Álvaro Enríquez de Salamanca, Tíscar Espigares Pinilla, Excavaciones Félix Moya, Cristina de Francisco Valera, Avelino García Álvarez, José Antonio García Anquela, Guillermina Garzón Heydt, José María Gómez Díaz, Néstor Hernando Rodríguez, John Laronne, Félix López de Figueroa, Ana Lucía Vela, Anders Lundkvist, Luis Mengual Rodríguez, María Núñez Rodríguez, Sara Nyssen González, Fernando Orozco, Roberto Oyarzun Muñoz, Javier de Pedraza Gilsanz, Fernando Pérez-Langa Hilla, Alec Roberts, Tim Roberts, Emilio Sanjuán López-Cózar, Quirico Rubio Sanz, Lázaro Sánchez Castillo, Mónica Silva, Nigel Stace, Jaume Tormo Blanes, Pedro Villar Salvador, Ignacio Zapico Alonso.

Thanks also to the large number of technicians from the regional administrations of Castile-La Mancha, Comunidad de Madrid, Extremadura and Generalitat Valenciana, as well as from Geacam, Grupo Tragsa and Vaersa Grupo.