Personnel

Dennis J. Nikols, P.Geo.
EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS
Career in geology began with field experience on exploration projects and in operating mines. Duties included geological mapping, core description, sampling, geochemical and geophysical surveys, and air-photo interpretation.

Responsibilities have included mine planning, pit design, production scheduling, equipment selection, blast design, ore dressing, and reserve reporting. Work has also included design and development of large databases for coal and minerals; integration of databases with Geographic Information Systems; selection and implementation of software for mine planning and other functions; calculation of reserves and ore quality variations by geostatistics and other methods; and coordination of multidisciplinary industry/government resource research projects.

Management experience has included responsibility for project selection and design, budgeting, budget control, scheduling, personnel selection, and supervision of staff and contractors.
Experience has encompassed a wide variety of commodities: coal and coalbed methane; iron ore; conventional petroleum and natural gas; heavy oil; oilsands; base and precious metals (copper, lead, zinc, uranium, gold, silver, and platinum group elements); and industrial minerals such as garnet, magnetite, leonardite/Humalite, clays, and aggregate.

Since January 2010 Dennis has been writing and publishing, on Retread’s Science Blog, essays examining the philosophy of science as it relates specifically to the Earth Sciences and science in general.
Dennis is a registered Professional Geoscientist in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. In Alberta he is a registered Professional Geologist.

PROJECTS HAVE INCLUDED:
• Written numerous client repots and studies including NI 43-101 and assessment work filings for: Iron Ore, Base Metals, Gold, Kerogen Shale, Oil Sands, Shale Gas, Coal Bed Methane, conventional Petroleum and Natural Gas.
• A long-range planning, fuel supply planning and mine geology at open-pit coal mines producing in excess of 13 million tonnes/year; A geological control and ore grade management at iron ore mines producing more than six million tonnes/year;
• A design, supervision and quality control of implementation for several large geoscience databases;
• A selection and implementation of mine planning software for major mining operations;
• A catenation of reserves and resource,, for commodities ranging from coal, coalbed methane and iron ore, to leonardite and ammonite;
• A management of a government department with a staff of 18 and a budget of over $2 million/year;
• A management of industry-government co-sponsored applied research projects, with budgets of over $600,000 a year; 
• A management of coalbed methane studies in Alberta, British Columbia and the Ukraine; supervision of multi-disciplinary project teams, including professionals from other countries; developing new projects, strategic proposals and plans for regional resource evaluation; and
• Organizing and leading field trips, such as international technical tours for industry and government; technical presentations; seminars and workshops, such as courses on Geographic Information Systems.
•
EDUCATION:
The University of Wisconsin,  graduated with Bachelor of Science in 1969.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
• Dennis Nikols, P. Geo.; Georgia L. Hoffman, P. Geol.; Zoe C. Nikols. 1999. Modelling the Economic Potential of Mineral Occurrences at Marble Creek Basin, Cassiar, B. C.
• Hoffman, G. L., Nikols, D.J., Stuhec, S. and Wilson, R.A. 1993. Evaluation of leonardite (Humalite) resources of Alberta.  Alberta Research Council,  Open File Report 1993-18.
• Nikols, D.J. and Treasure, S. 1991. Coal quality variations in Alberta Tertiary coals: a detailed analysis of a mining pit at Highvale Mine. Alberta Research Council, Open File Report 1990-21. Nikols, D.J. and Rottenfusser, B.A. 1991. Coalbed methane - a Canadian resource for the 90's. In: Coalbed Methane of  Western North America; Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists.
• Das, B.M., Nikols, D.J., Das, Z.V. and Hucka, V.J. 1991. Factors affecting rate and total volume of methane desorption from coalbeds. In: Coalbed Methane in Western North America; Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists.
• Nikols, D.J., Treasure, S. and Strobl, R. 1990. Coal quality variations. In: Proceedings, 1990 Coal Quality Workshop. Alberta Office of Coal Research and Technology, Alberta Research Council Contribution  #1 803.
• Kahn, F. Z. and Nikols, D. J. 1989. Toe buttressing procedure to stabilize slide zones for dragline stripping operations.   Canadian Mining and Metallurgy Bulletin, v. 82, no. 925, p. 37-47.
• Fenton, M.M., Trudell, M.R., Pawlowiez, J.G.,Sterenberg, C.E., Moran, S.R. and Nikols, D.J. 1989,
• Contribution of     Quaternary geology to mine planning and management of open-pit coal mines. In: Applied Quaternary Research, A.A. Balkema; p. 15-30.
• Wade, N.H., Naderi, F. and Nikols, D.J. t 987. Role of the computer in managing and applying geotechnical data to surface mine design. International Journal of Surface Mining, v. 1, no. 4, p. 233-247.
• Hughes, J.D., Klatzel-Mudry, L. and Nikols, D.J. 1987.
• A standardized coal resource/reserve reporting system for Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 88-21.
• Nikols, D.J., Caraghiaur, G. and Roxburgh, P.C. 1986. Mine planning requirements for the Highvale Mine. Canadian         Mining and Metallurgy Bulletin, v.79, no. 887, p, 1 10-1 1 1.
• Fenton, M.M., Trudell, M., Pawtowiez, J.G., Jones, C., Moran, S. and Nikols, D.J. 1986. Glacaltectonic deformation and geotechnical stability in open-pit coal mining. In: Geotechnical Stability in Surface Mining, A.A.Balkema.
• Nikols, D.J. 1984. Utility planning for coal benefaction. Canadian Mining and Metallurgy Bulletin, v. 77, no. 865, p. 44-46.