Michael is a director and Consulting Geophysicist
with Flagstaff GeoConsultants Pty Ltd. He has been prominent in education
and research applications of geophysics in the exploration industry over
a period of 25 years.
His professional experience includes 2 years in Nigeria, as a Lecturer
and MSc course coordinator, and 18 years with BHP Minerals
International, based in Brisbane, Melbourne and Toronto, working on coal,
base metals and gold exploration in Australasia, the Americas and Africa.
He played a key role in development of ground and borehole EM techniques
for covered terranes, which led to the discovery of the Eloise Cu-Au mine
in the Mt Isa block.
More generally, he took a lead role over the last five
years in developing the geophysical research program for BHP minerals.
He initiated a review of technologies and a feasibility study, which
led to development of the now-operational BHP airborne gravity gradiometer.
At Monash University, Michael is a Principal Research Fellow
(part-time), lectures in regional Geophysics and EM methods to undergraduates,
and continues research in borehole electrical and electromagnetic methods.
He has served on Department of Education Review panels
for Key Centres in Earth Sciences, as an Associate Editor for the Society
of Exploration Geophysicists, and as a Vice-president of the Australian
SEG and co-chairman of the ASEG Conference 1998. He is currently on the
Technical Advisory Committee of the Cooperative Research Centre for Australian
Mineral Exploration Technologies.
Dr Asten’s courses in Mineral Exploration Geophysics have
been presented in Australia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, for four
major mining companies, three Universities, and most recently in Johannesburg
as a guest of the South African Geophysics Association.
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