As critical mine infrastructure, Mine Tailings and Rock Storage Facilities are among the largest man-made structures on earth, counted among the few that can be seen from space.

Without careful consideration in design, construction, operation and closure, these facilities can pose a significant risk to life and the environment due to their large size, and being built almost entirely of mine overburden and processing by-products.

How can we help?

SLR’s experts understand that mine waste and related engineering services are truly a multi-disciplinary effort. Using integrated approaches, SLR focuses all of our engineering and scientific expertise in combining knowledge and methods to ensure mine infrastructure has a positive impact on the environment and surrounding communities.

Our services include:

  • Site selection & baseline characterisation
  • Geometric design, embankment engineering, liners, geotechnical stability
  • Tailings pumping, distribution and deposition
  • Water balance modelling and integrated water management
  • Environmental permitting, compliance and monitoring services
  • Risk assessment, audits, engineer of record
  • Construction QA/QC, operational support, closure
SLR Mine Waste Engineering

Our team includes

  • Jeremy Collyard Mining & Minerals Sector Leader - US
    Jeremy Collyard

    Jeremy is the US Mining and Minerals Business Sector Lead, a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and a MMSA Qualified Professional. He brings an extensive background in mining including project management and client development for mining sites throughout the United Sates. His background includes mine remedial investigations and feasibility studies (RI/FS), environmental permitting, monitoring, and compliance programmes, Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), environmental baseline studies, and the evaluation and development of water management planning, and mine closure strategy, planning, and implementation. His background includes 15 years of experience in mining, industrial, and multi-disciplinary environmental projects.

  • Terry Mandziak US Manager of Mine Waste Engineering
    Terry Mandziak

    Terry has over 28 years of technical experience for mining projects, in both industry and consulting. He is a registered professional engineer that has managed tailings and heap leach design projects, with responsibilities that included site selection, risk assessment, site investigation, laboratory analysis, slope stability assessment, data interpretation, costing analysis, closure design, and development of specifications, construction drawings, bid documents and construction programs. He managed multi‐disciplinary engineering teams on NI 43‐101 compliant conceptual, prefeasibility and feasibility studies. Mr. Mandziak is accomplished in engineering design and studies, consistently meeting schedule and budget, striving to provide efficiency and value for clients. He has worked on projects throughout the world, including North America, South America, Turkey, China, and Africa

  • Tom Patterson Managing Principal
    Tom Patterson

    Tom has over 25 years of experience as an environmental chemist.  He has been involved with remedial investigation, design, and construction; risk assessment; geochemistry; and environmental fate and transport analyses for hazardous waste and mining sites. He brings significant experience with strategic planning and permitting to facilitate mine closure. Areas of technical expertise include project management, ground water fate and transport, mine waste management, geochemistry, evaluation of baseline water chemistry and impacts, performing multi-pathway risk assessments for federal and state Superfund sites, air quality, support for environmental decision-making using the risk-based approach, and data analysis to support risk assessments and impact evaluations.

  • Zeke Baumgardner Senior Engineer
    Zeke Baumgardner

    Zeke Baumgardner has over 10 years of experience in the engineering consulting and mining industries with a focus on geotechnical engineering. The majority of his projects are design or review of tailings dams and water management facilities at mines in Canada, the United States and Brazil incorporating best available technologies with sensible construction strategies.