Augustine commenced his PhD in 2001 as part of a research collaboration between the School of Botany of the University of Melbourne, Environmental Inorganic Geochemistry Group of Curtin University and Stawell Gold Mines Pty Ltd. Augustine moved from Perth where he worked for a number of years on ecological studies for the coal, gold and titanium dioxide industries, and on mining impacted landscapes.
Augustine's PhD utilises the Tailings Environmental Research Facility (TERF), an experimental tailings storage facility established at Stawell Gold Mine. Stawell Gold Mine is the most productive gold mine in Victoria. The major aim of Augustine's research is to develop methods for the growth of economically viable plants in remediated sulphidic gold mine tailings containing elevated concentrations of metals and arsenic, so overcoming the use of costly and ineffective solid covers.

Supervisors:

Prof. Alan Baker,
Applied Ecology, School of Botany, University of Melbourne.
Dr Ron Watkins
Environmental Inorganic Geochemistry Group, Department of Applied Geology, Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia
Assoc Prof Joan Osborne,
Department of Environmental Biology, Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia