SLR at SME MINEXCHANGE 2026
Join SLR and other industry leaders and professionals at the Society of Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME)’s MINEXCHANGE 2026 Conference in Salt Lake City, UT. SLR’s mining team will be on site throughout the event, presenting new insights and connecting with attendees on the latest trends shaping the mining industry in the US and globally. Visit us at Booth 837 to meet our experts and learn more about our work across the mining lifecycle.
Our Presentations
Comparison of Trends in Gold Property Transaction Values, Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Reporting, and Gold Price (2012-2025)
Presented by Grant Malensek, with contributions by additional SLR mining experts William E. Roscoe, Paul Chamois, Pierre Landry, and Jason Cox
When: Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 9:25 AM
About: SLR has tracked transactions on gold properties worldwide from 2012 to 2025. For comparative purposes, the transaction values are expressed in US dollars per ounce of gold ($/oz Au). Our analyses show that $/oz values are significantly higher for producing properties than for non-producing properties, as expected. However, last year’s presentation showed that $/oz values unexpectedly decreased from 2021 to 2024 as gold prices increased dramatically. This presentation investigates whether this downward trend in $/oz Au values continues in 2025 as gold prices climb even higher. In addition, SLR will also investigate similar divergences between current gold prices and corporate Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve prices in their annual reporting.
Uncertainty in Upstream TSF Stability: Will We Hang Our Hats on Numerical Outcomes?
Presented by Ezra Coyle
When: Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 2:05 PM
About: As more existing upstream tailings storage facilities (TSFs) are held to a higher standard of analysis, given recent catastrophic failures and the adoption of the GISTM by many, Limit Equilibrium (LE) stability outcomes are very regularly not returning satisfactory Factor of Safety (FoS) stability outcomes. In this instance, dam owners are typically faced with two options: invest in substantial and costly buttressing exercises or perform and rely upon less conservative outcomes associated with advanced numerical models. In some instances, buttressing is not possible due to footprint constraints. Where the latter approach is adopted, significant questions are grappled with, both by the dam owner and the EoR, such as; what are the credentials to be a qualified practitioner in the field?, who are the authority for review of such advanced models? The ultimate question asked however, is are we comfortable relying on numerical stability outcomes, when unsatisfactory LE outcomes are found? Through examination of three upstream TSF examples where the numerical approach was adopted, this paper will attempt to answer some of those questions posed above.
