Goldplant Speaker Spotlight
Juan Jose Moreno
Practice Leader (Mine Waste), SRK Consulting
With a stellar 30 year global career in geo-technical and geo-environmental engineering, Juan Jose Moreno is set to inspire at our upcoming Gold Plant of the Future Symposium 2022 held in the Blue Mountains, NSW and online, May 11-12. We sat down with Juan to discuss elements of his presentation, taking a holistic approach to work and the future of the industry.
What message would you like to highlight to those attending the Gold Plant of the Future Symposium 2022? What do you hope will be the main takeaway from your presentation?
The mining industry is constantly shaped by the influence of various stakeholders – even more so these days with globalisation and awareness of the potential environmental impacts from mining that can affect communities and ecosystems. Tailings is arguably one of the major sources of concern, mainly associated with the release of contaminants or even worse, failure of the embankment and catastrophic consequences. The latest response of the industry to these concerns is the implementation of the Global Industry Standards on Tailings Management (GISTM, 2020), which focuses not only on improving operational and governance aspects of tailings management, but also highlights the importance of using the best available technology (BAT) concept. One aspect that perhaps needs to be better understood is the concept of “As low as reasonably practicable”, the focus on a safe TSF should be on plausible risk reduction activities to target mitigation actions where these are most needed. We need to rationalise some of the ‘perceived’ risks and better integrate tailings management with production and operations, improve surveillance and provide more efficient, safe storage for tailings, and by all means, optimise the use of human resources.
The Gold Plant of the Future Symposium 2022 will focus on emerging technology and solutions to current and future challenges in gold processing. What developments do you expect to see in this space?
I believe there will be a shift in how tailings management is driven, placing more emphasis on preservation of design intent, meaningful monitoring, transparency through active public disclosure and consideration of alternative tailings management options, the latter will be facilitated with the incorporation of emerging technology. Embracing Environment and Social Governance (ESG) issues in all aspects of the project life cycle will be of outmost importance.
What do you consider to be the most pressing challenge facing the gold plant industry? Are there any advanced technologies that you think are generating positive solutions?
In relation to tailings management, one of the pressing challenges we see is that social license to operate is becoming prominent and there have been a number of well-publicised catastrophic events related to tailings failures that have raised the level of community concern. As a response to this, a number of mining companies are currently investing in R&D with the aim of developing alternative solutions that could mitigate – if not eliminate – risks associated with catastrophic failure an example is the understanding of the behaviour of dewatered tailings.
However, we also see there are some drivers to reinvent fundamentals. It is important to step back and recognise that there are some very robust tailings management solutions, which are proven, and just need to be considered at the start of any new project. Online monitoring systems and mobile devices accessing data is providing us with a far better idea of the performance of our TSFs, it’s giving us a better idea of the risks, it’s giving us a better idea of the environmental impacts, its giving world-class professionals access to remote facilities. In my opinion, technology needs to be guided by clear objectives.
What advice do you have for young mining professionals looking at attending Gold Plant 2022?
Challenge the status quo, be holistic in your approach to your projects and operations, welcome all viable new technologies to improve our industry, and employ the best people you can afford.