Bill Haylock’s career spans more than 45 years in the resources and environment sectors, but his story is about more than just time in the field. From the early days of helping companies secure land and navigate complex approvals, to leading projects on both the private and public sides, Bill has always been driven by a curiosity for how land shapes opportunity.
Along the way, he discovered a passion for solving the challenges that sit at the heart of land management. That path eventually led him to create PX4 Software—a way to bring together everything he had learned into a tool that could make land management more transparent, smarter, and more accessible. In this series, Bill shares his journey in his own words.
Starting Out in the Northern Territory
Soil conservation officer – Northern Territory
The day I walked onto the site of the Ranger Uranium mine, I fell in love with the mining industry. It was around April 1979.
The Early Days of Environmental Impact Statements
On the 9th of January 1979, the signing of the Ranger Project Agreement and the issuance of the associated Authority by the Commonwealth Government were finalised. It was then located within the Uranium Development Province of the Alligator Rivers Region (UDPARR), some 255 kms east of Darwin in western Arnhem Land.
I was employed as a Soil Conservation officer by the Northern Territory government to help ensure that proposed mitigation and control measures would be properly designed, built, implemented, and operated. This included reviewing mine rehabilitation works. My role covered four mine sites: Ranger, Narbarlek Uranium mine in Arnhem Land (another recently approved uranium mine), the Gove (Nhulunbuy) bauxite mine, and the Groote Eylandt manganese mine.
At Ranger and Nabarlek, it was the beginning of the construction of the mines. They had both been permitted by the Commonwealth government, utilising a couple of Australia’s first-ever Environmental Impact Statement(s) (EIS).
I was intrigued by the whole project approval process. The geological find, the environmental considerations, the potential project impacts, the proposed mitigation measures, and the detailed environmental monitoring programs.
Simply put, an EIS comprises of four parts. There is a detailed description of the project, which includes the mineral deposit, ore body, mining technique, process facility, waste, waste management, water, and energy needs. There is a description of the environment and details of all the background specifics of it. With these two parts, one can identify the potential impacts of the proposed project on the background environment. With this understanding, mitigation and control measures are designed to protect the environment from the proposed project’s impacts.
At both Ranger and Nabarlek, there was a real buzz in the air. It was exciting. We were surrounded by all sorts of professionals who had come from all over Australia and around the globe. All with different skill sets, knowledge, experience, and specialities. To this day, I still have several lifelong friends from that time.
What Sparked My Passion for Land Management
Every day was a massive learning curve. Not only in the environmental management aspects of mining, mine rehabilitation, but also the knowledge that we operated on these sites pursuant to government agreements but in particular agreements with the traditional owners of the country. And, as importantly, how the various actual operations need to comply with their various mining licence agreements.
The Road to PX4..
And thus, my journey into the world of mineral rights, licence approvals, and compliance began.
