studies

I studied Geoecology (B.Sc and M.Sc.) at the Mining Academy and Technical University of Freiberg in Germany between 1998 and 2004, interrupted by one year of Environmental Sciences studies at the University Autónoma of Madrid in Spain.

In 2006 I started an M.Sc. in Environmental Management and Ecoaudit hosted by University of Leon, Spain and Funiber and partly funded by Funiber Chile.

Having finalised this M.Sc. I decided to go a bit further and applied for a Ph.D. funding at Newcastle University. An lucky me, in September 2007 I moved up to the Northeast of England and am since then busy with my new project (find out more about my doctorate).

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work experience

After finalising my M.Sc. in Germany, I headed back to South America to undertake an internship at the Environment Agency of Chile (CONAMA) in La Serena. During this time I started to search for job opportunities in the mining sector and found occupation in SRK Chile in Santiago de Chile where I worked as an environmental geochemist mainly involved in baseline studies such as the one of El Teniente, Codelco. Before going back to Europe to start with SRK UK in Cardiff, Wales, I helped in the baseline and environmental impact study of Pascua Lama (Barrick Gold).

Finally, in 2007 after nearly two years with SRK UK and many interesting projects in copper, gold, molybdenum, aluminium, chromium and coal mining I decided to go back to Uni, where I am now, to do a doctorate in environmental geochemistry.

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publications

Theses:

• Matthies, R. (2007) Geochemical assessment of tailings proposed for Marine Tailings Disposal (MTD). University of Leon. Master Thesis (abstract)
• Matthies, R. (2005) Geochemical and mineralogical changes in soils under prolonged sulphuric acid influences, El Teniente, Chile. Technical University and Mining Academy Freiberg. Master Thesis (abstract in German)
• Matthies, R. (2000) Geology and Deposits in Springs and Far East Regions, Witwatersrand, South Africa. Technical University and Mining Academy Freiberg. Bachelor Thesis

Poster Presentations:

• Matthies, R.(2008) Mine water: Passively treatable or not ? PGR Conference, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle upon Tyne. (abstract /poster)
• Matthies, R., Bowell, B., Williams, K. (2007) Geochemical assessment of the reactivity of tailings proposed for marine tailings disposal (MTD). 23rd International Applied Geochemistry Symposium (IAGS), Oviedo, Departamento de Explotación y Prospección de Minas, University of Oviedo. (poster)
  

Oral Presentations:

• Matthies, R.(2008) Passive mine water treatment: An example from the Northeast, Bowden Close. Brown Bag Seminar. School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle upon Tyne. (presentation preview)
• Kelm, U. Helle, S., Matthies, R., Morales, A. (2005) The relationship of Cu, As and
  SO4 contents and soil mineralogy at six locations of the El Teniente Sector, VI Region, Chile. International Conference on Heavy Metals in the Environment ICHMET 2005, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
  

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Conferences and courses

Certainly, one of the highlights of my professional training was the short course on geochemistry I attended in October 2004 which was hosted by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany. The two weeks full time course was devided in theorical and practical parts and covered the formation and development of silica melts, principles of trace element analysis and isotope composition, application of geochronology and petrology, ICP-MS, laser ablation ICP-MS and multicollector ICP-MS.

Much more recently (May 2008) I went to East Kilbride, Scotland, to analyse my first samples for sulphur and carbon stable isotopes (δ34S, δ13C) in the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre . There, I got an excellent guidance from Dr.Adrian Boyce and colleagues on how to prepare samples and analyse them for their isotope ratios on the Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (IRMS, VG SIRA II). Further trips to the SUERC are planned throughout the course of my Ph.D. programme (more courses).

Scientific manuscripts reviewed

Gröger, J., Franke, J., Hamer, K., Schulz. H.D. (unpublished) Evaluation of a modified single-step distillation of chromium-reducible sulfur: Improved recoveries of elemental sulfur and enhanced background reduction. Geostandards.

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received funding

• Travel grant to undertake field sampling and analysis for my MSc project in Chile in 2004, awarded by the Verein Freunde und Förderer and Förderkreis Freiberger Geowissenschaften of the Technical University, Mining Academy Freiberg (1000 Eur)

• Grant to undertake a Master of Science study in Environmental Management and Ecoaudit, awarded in 2005 by Funiber Chile (3500 Eur)

• Ph.D. funded by the EPSRC, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences and IRES (Newcastle University) and the Environment Agency (from 2007 to 2010)

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memberships

International Mine Water Association (member and graphics editor)

Geochemical Society (member)

SAgE Faculty Researcher Development Board

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languages

• German (mother tongue)

• English (fluent)

• Spanish (fluent)

• Portuguese (intermediate)

• French (basic)

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software I am working with

• Geochemistry programmes (AquaChem; Geochemists' Workbench; PhreeqC )
• Graphic Programmes (Acrobat Professional 8; ArcView; Corel Draw; Idrisi; Photoshop; Sigmaplot; Simview; Surfer; NVU; Dreamweaver)
• Others (Minitab; EQWin; Endnote)

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