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Webinar: Engineering Geology Applied in the Mining Industry
Wednesday, June 24, 2020, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EDT
Category: Webinars

Webinar: Engineering Geology Applied in the Mining Industry 

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Speaker: David W. Bieber, PG, PGP, CEG, CHG

The roots of modern engineering geology are firmly planted in mining and mining engineering. Many of the earliest applications of soil mechanics, rock mechanics, and geohazards recognition focused on creating and maintaining mining excavations. In fact, it can reasonably be argued that one of the earliest engineering geology texts was Georg Bauer’s De re metallica, published in 1556. Many of the types of investigations performed and the tools used by engineering geologists and mining geologists are the same. Investigations related to slope stability, hydrogeology, rock and soil strength, environmental issues, and subsidence are among the many areas common in the mining and engineering geology realms. The significance of these commonalities is that in this era of predicted scarcity of mining professionals, the engineering geology profession represents a pool of people who can be readily brought in to the mining profession. Conversely, the mining industry provides additional opportunities for employment for engineering geology graduates and practitioners. Engineering geologists can also work collaboratively with mining professionals in many aspects of the mining process, including the reclamation phase of mining where mine sites are being converted for residential, business, water storage, and other developed uses. This presentation uses several case studies to highlight areas of practice-in-common between engineering and mining geology, places where engineering and mining skills compliment each other, and two case studies that serve as cautionary tales that should remind us to stay with what we know.