Gareth Bramston
Director / Principal

Gareth is an environmental professional with greater than 20 years of environmental management and approval experience. His background includes leading and managing major environmental approvals in the mining and development industries. Gareth provides strategic environmental advice to clients with projects ranging from the early planning phase through to construction and development. Gareth graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Southern Queensland.

Gareth’s international experience includes environmental management and approval services to mining Projects in Thailand and Bangladesh along with environmental tourism Projects in Vanuatu. Gareth is also an accredited auditor and is experienced in environmental due diligence for resource projects. His particular strengths include government liaison throughout a project’s approval phases, and ongoing support and strategic advice to clients.

Stuart Ritchie
Associate Director / Principal

Stuart is an environmental engineer with a career spanning over 35 years’ as an environmental professional. Stuart has an extensive environmental background with expertise in environmental risk and compliance management, mine rehabilitation and closure, environmental sustainability strategies, climate change and energy policy, government and community engagement support and environmental project support.

Stuart holds a Masters of Environmental Management and brings experience in corporate environmental and sustainability roles across both national and multi-national mining and manufacturing companies including Rio Tinto, Cement Australia and the Cement Industry Federation.

Stuart’s significant industry experience and his exposure and understanding of environmental and regulatory requirements, has resulted in a high level of operational environmental performance, a strong relationship with key regulators  and a combination of skills that translate into practical and workable strategies and solutions across a broad spectrum of industry sectors, notably mining and manufacturing.

Emily Brown
Senior Principal Consultant

Emily is a Senior Principal Consultant with more than 15 years of experience delivering practical and strategic environmental solutions across the resources sector. With a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering from Griffith University, Emily has extensive expertise in environmental approvals, compliance, mine rehabilitation and closure planning, operational environmental management, risk assessment and stakeholder engagement.

Emily has worked across both operational and consulting environments, giving her a strong understanding of the challenges faced by industry and the importance of developing outcomes that are both environmentally responsible and commercially practical. Her experience spans large scale mining operations, environmental auditing, PRCP and rehabilitation strategy development, regulatory approvals and environmental management systems.

As an accredited environmental auditor, Emily is recognised for her attention to detail, collaborative approach and ability to navigate complex regulatory frameworks. She is passionate about supporting clients through all stages of the project lifecycle, from planning and approvals through to operations, rehabilitation and closure.

At AARC, Emily is committed to delivering high quality, tailored environmental solutions that help clients achieve sustainable and practical outcomes while building strong relationships with regulators, stakeholders and project teams.

Tyson Smalley
Principal Environmental Consultant

Tyson is a Principal Environmental Consultant with nearly 30 years’ experience delivering complex environmental, regulatory and rehabilitation projects across the mining, construction and government sectors. He is recognised for decisive, steady and collaborative leadership that brings clarity to complex projects and supports multidisciplinary teams, contractors, regulators and community stakeholders.

His expertise spans mine rehabilitation and closure planning, environmental approvals and regulation, environmental risk assessment, harm mitigation and technical environmental disciplines including riverine and catchment processes, hydrogeology and construction environmental management. Tyson has led major rehabilitation and remediation programs across Queensland, managing high‑risk works involving land subsidence, contaminated land remediation and tailings dam risk mitigation.

Tyson is highly experienced in community consultation and stakeholder engagement, working closely with Mine Managers, Traditional Owners, local communities, government agencies and industry partners to build trust, resolve issues and support project outcomes. He builds capacity, capability and ownership within organisations through engaging delivery of awareness workshops or strategic planning, integrating scientific discipline with practical project management to achieve sustainable and defensible results.

He also contributes to community leadership through volunteer governance roles, including service as President of his local Junior Football Club.

Sara Cooke
Principal Environmental Consultant

Sara is a seasoned professional with a diverse background in environmental science, project management, and governance. With extensive on-site, remote, regional, and international experience, she has contributed significantly to community and resource planning. Her career spans over 16 years in the mining industry, including strategic roles at Wesfarmers, BHP, and Rio Tinto. Sara later diversified into large-scale infrastructure projects, specialising in rail, tailings, and facilities management. She excels in building science-based alliances with business partners, rural communities, and ESG programs.

Sara holds a Bachelor of Environmental Science and a Graduate Certificate in Risk and Governance. She is a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia and an accredited ISO Auditor. Throughout her extensive career, Sara has continuously expanded her skill set through various qualifications.

Lucia Lopez
Principal Ecologist

Lucia is a Principal Ecologist, specialising in Botany with over 15 years of experience.  Lucia has field experience in Australia, throughout Africa and South-East Asia (Sumatra) working with various business partners, consultancies and local NGOs and Herbaria to deliver Environmental Impact Assessments.

Lucia’s experience covers from consultancy to conservation projects in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Her background includes baseline ecological assessments, vegetation mapping, environmental offsets, targeted threatened species surveys, and monitoring programs. She has a comprehensive understanding of State and Commonwealth legislation relating to impact assessment, environmental approvals, and compliance.

She has published plant species conservation assessments in the IUCN red list (119 as the main assessor) and peer-reviewed plant taxonomy research.

Stephen Pugh
Principal Noise Engineer

A Principal Engineer with over 28 years consulting experience. He is a Mechanical Engineer in the specialist field of acoustics, including noise and vibration.

Stephen has worked on a broad range of mining projects as a project manager (EIS, PRCP, EA amendments) and as an Acoustics Engineer. He has provided technical advice, noise modelling, blast analysis and reporting for operational noise and vibration issues (real-time monitoring solutions, regular surveys for EA compliance), and noise and vibration assessments for proposed projects (EIS, EA amendments, noise mitigation planning).

In addition to mining projects, he was worked on renewables, quarries, transportation infrastructure (roads, railway and airports) and development approval assessments.

Stephen has also worked as an expert witness (noise) in the Planning and Environment Court.

He is a Registered Professional Engineer Queensland (RPEQ) and a former Chairman of the Queensland Division of the Australian Acoustical Society. He has presented on noise related workshops at conferences and presented papers on noise.

Helen Wood
Principal Environmental Scientist

Helen is an Environmental Scientist with over 30 years of environmental management experience that includes environmental approvals, environmental assurance, compliance and environmental management systems (EMS). She has held corporate roles delivering large approval projects and worked for regulatory government agencies; and over 16 years’ directly supporting the resources, oil and gas, pipeline and linear infrastructure sectors. Her experience has contributed to all project stages: approvals, construction, operations and rehabilitation/mine closure; enabling her to contribute an extensive range of technical knowledge and industry experience to projects.

Helen holds a Master of Science in Tropical Ecology and a Graduate Diploma in Resource Environmental Management. She has an extensive background in biodiversity, ecology, environmental offsets, land management, land rehabilitation and stakeholder engagement; and sound operating knowledge of environmental aspects, including groundwater and surface water, water management, air, noise, and cultural heritage requirements.