Animal Plant Mineral Pty Ltd

A veteran in the industry, Mitch continues to maintain an active and integrated presence in the field as a field survey ecologist, driven by the innate philosophy that one needs to participate in ecological surveys to fully appreciate and understand the findings. This then facilitates better environmental management of site biological attributes in context with land development.

​

Mitch has worked in the field of Environmental Consulting for more than 25 years progressing from Technical / Research Assistant to Managing Director. He has been Manager of Biological Science for multiple private environmental consulting firms in Western Australia.

​

He is now the owner and director of APM; a company that has serviced clients all over Australia for more than 15 years.

​

As a consultant biologist, Mitch has worked in every bioregion in Western Australia, across the northern and southern extents of the Northern Territory, far north-west Queensland and central NSW.

​

With an intrinsic understanding of biological process as it relates to land development, Mitch can offer a unique approach to environmental assessment. Novel ideas, well considered strategies and an ability to confidently and competently engage with key stakeholder and regulators has resulted in numerous State and Federal referred projects being granted approval with minimal formal assessment. Where projects are more formally assessed these same attributes contribute significantly to the efficiency with which projects progress to approval.

Having worked in the environmental field for the past 20 years, Sharon has gained extensive experience in environmental management and community liaison. With both an operational and approval background, Sharon has acquired an understanding of the requirements and planning processes involved in regulatory approvals and has gained a practical approach to environmental management from her on-site roles.

Through previous roles within the aviation, electricity and mining industries and during her 13 years as Principal Environmental Advisor at APM, Sharon has continuously refined and improved her skills in environmental impact assessment, environmental management systems, closure planning, stakeholder consultation, budgeting, risk assessment, monitoring, auditing and training. Her focus has been predominantly on base metal projects, such as iron ore, copper-gold and silver/lead/zinc.

Prior to this Sharon spent a number of years at the coal face of community liaison in her roles as Environmental Manager at both Sydney and Jandakot Airports. She has also worked on projects across most States of Australia and throughout Indonesia which gives her an acute ability to appreciate the planning, logistics and infrastructure requirements for project approval.

Sharon has exceptional inter-personal skills and has developed excellent relationships with both State and Federal Government Authorities in both Western Australia and the Northern Territory. This enables her to liaise and negotiate with regulators and stakeholders to achieve the most favourable results for her clients in the shortest possible timeframe.

Eleanor has undertaken innumerable botanical surveys in the Northern Territory, NSW, Victoria and Western Australia for various APM clients over more than nine years. Additionally, Eleanor has a PhD from the University of Western Australia characterising suitable mine closure targets for Potentially Acid Forming (PAF) mine waste rock dumps at Telfer, in the Great Sandy Desert.

​

Eleanor is a resilient field biologist, accustomed to working under harsh environmental conditions, and a prodigious worker dedicated to communicating the findings of her field work in the most appropriate manner for ease of understanding by clients and regulators alike. 

​

Eleanor has accumulated a number of additional skills and experiences in addition to her time as a consultant botanist, such as pest plant control programs including coordinating a Weeds of National Significance (WoNS) eradication program,  overseeing the restoration of legacy mine tailings including riparian zone areas, participation in Stakeholder engagement proceedings and experience working with multiple government departments and community stakeholders often with conflicting land management targets.

 

Eleanor has extensive experience utilising a range of environmental sampling techniques for flora and vegetation for the purposes of vegetation mapping, condition assessment, impact assessment and monitoring. She has considerable experience in the measurement of plant physiological traits relative to plant water use and detailed knowledge of soil sampling and analysis of soil physical properties, particularly those related to flow in the vadose zone. Eleanor has considerable skills in statistical design and analysis using both metric and non-metric techniques. Eleanor has GIS capabilities and produces GIS analyses and mapping products. 

 

In recent years Eleanor has excelled in her transition to environmental impact assessment and environmental management where she has rapidly developed an exceptional ability to assimilate biotic and abiotic information from technical reports into environmental approvals documents. Eleanor has been the primary author on Environmental Impact Assessment documents in the Northern Territory including Environmental Impact Statements and Mining Management Plans, and regularly contributes to management plans, gap assessments, scoping documents, stakeholder engagement and Mine Closure Plans for Western Australian and Northern Territory projects.

Vicki is an experienced office professional who brings over 20 years of operational and administrative experience in Office Management, Human Resources and Accounting to her role as Operations Manager for APM.

​

Vicki  handles all logistical, financial, HR, IT and administrative matters relating to the business, including strategy formation, performance improvement and material and resource procurement. With a track record of strong performance in high-volume, high-pressure business environments, Vicki maintains the streamlining of policies and back-office procedures within the company, ensuring an organised and productive work environment for all APM staff.   With over 10 years previous experience in banking and international trade, she is highly customer focused and has a developed eye for detail which APM has been able to utilise in all areas of quality control and quality assurance.

​

Neil is a plant ecologist with over 25 years experience in the planning and implementation of ecological research and environmental monitoring. Neil has worked on various aspects of ecology and botanical research in a wide range of landscapes throughout Australia, as  well as in Africa and the USA.  He has extensive experience in ecology and environmental management and has a strong interest in translating basic ecological research into sound environmental management. 

Neil has a large amount of experience in the design, implementation and interpretation of environmental projects and has led and managed projects that involve large multi-disciplinary teams. This includes knowledge management and communication among colleagues as well as with and between stakeholders and landowners, regional NRM bodies and traditional owners and indigenous ranger groups. 
 

Neil has considerable experience and a sound knowledge of designing and implementing vegetation and flora surveys and plant physiology studies in the South-West, Pilbara and Kimberley regions of Western Australia as well as other regions of Australia and has strong skills in flora identification. 
 

Neil has published 58 co-authored refereed journal articles in high impact, international journals, as well as 8 book chapters, 21 technical reports, and given more than 30 international conference presentations.

Kobie has specialised in Environmental Impact Assessments for the past 15 years, with extensive experience in government referrals, stakeholder consultation, closure planning, and report writing. Through her previous roles, Kobie has worked across a large variety  of different projects and commodities, each with their own unique challenges. 

Kobie has spent over ten years working with the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS), which has involved participating in the development of Guidelines for writing Mining and Exploration Applications, conducting environmental inspections of mine sites, assessing and providing feedback on Mining and Exploration Proposals, Management Plans, and a variety of other documents, and working with multiple Government Agencies to regulate sites with unique challenges. Kobie therefore has an inherent understanding of the requirements for government referrals, the level and type of information required, and how to write high standard application documents for government. Kobie's expertise have been further refined through other roles such as working with FMG and APM.