Unexpected piezometer trends in a tailings dam triggered an investigation that uncovered an overlooked variable in dissipation testing – the type of saturation fluid.
When Alejo Sfriso, corporate consultant at SRK Consulting Argentina, stepped up to the podium at the Life of Mine | Mine Waste and Tailings 2025 conference in Brisbane, his message was as direct as it was disruptive: it’s time to leave deterministic factor-of-safety thinking behind.
What if the key to slashing tailings closure costs and winning community trust is to start the work decades before the mine shuts down?
For Justin Walls, Principal Consultant (Tailings Engineering) at SRK Consulting, the best time to plan for tailings storage facility (TSF) closure is now – not when the mine is about to shut down.
When BHP needed a new Engineer of Record for one of Australia’s most complex tailings sites, the Olympic Dam handover became a masterclass in how to get it right.
In an industry awash with plug-and-play software and AI buzzwords, Oliver “Olly” Willetts, senior geologist and resource estimation consultant at SRK Consulting, stands out for his clear-eyed, problem-first approach to geoscientific data management.
