Christopher Anderson

Curriculum Vitae:

Dr. Christopher Anderson (Chris) is Senior Lecturer in Soil and Earth Sciences at Massey University in New Zealand. He is based in the New Zealand city of Palmerston North. Chris also holds the position of Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and at the NBK Institute of Mining Engineering at the University of British Columbia. He leads an active research group investigating the interactions of trace elements and contaminants with the environment. His projects study heavy metals, organic pollutants such as dioxin, and essential micronutrients. During his doctoral research (1998-2000) he developed the concept of gold phytomining, and went on to establish the first company in the world offering commercial gold phytomining services. Today Chris is involved with phytoremediation/phytomining and large scale environmental impact assessment and remediation projects in China, Indonesia, Mexico as well as New Zealand, and contributes to research projects being conducted by colleagues around the world. He has a particular interest in the application of phytomining to the sustainable management of mine tailings at artisanal and small scale gold mining operations. Underpinning this scenario is agricultural development in rural areas where farming was the traditional livelihood before mining. He serves on many editorial and management boards and environmental project steering groups, is a Director of several New Zealand companies, and has an active publication portfolio.