Let me continue on the topic of the recent conference in Banff on Tailings and Mine Waste. The theme of this posting (as dictated by my old teacher, every written piece must have a theme) is the infinite variety of folk who are interested in tailings and mine waste.
The past three days I have been in one of those meeting where lots of people come together to review a project. The idea is to identify project opportunities and risks & mitigation measures. Some call these sessions Failure Mode and Effect Analyses (FMEA). Some call them Multi-Attribute Analyses (MAA). Makes no difference what you call it; all depends on what you achieve—cost & risk reduction. Regardless of what you call your activities, the most important person is the moderator. Our moderator was Mike Davis of AMEC. He is also the primary author of that fine paper at Banff; which paper postulates that there is a correlation between boom cycles in mining and failure of tailings impoundments.
Mike is the consummate engineer: bright, experienced, practical. He is an even better moderator: bright, tough, and decisive; a fair and a good listener; and a superb interpreter of stumbling explanation and concerns. In person, he is large and imposing; not necessary impressive, for he smiles often and looses his calm in exasperation as the stupidities of meetings run rampant. Due to his skills, we identified over one hundred risks. Then he guided us with firm and decisive hand to change the design to obviate the risks, save money, and reach consensus. I have lead such sessions and participated in many more. Never before have I seen such consummate skill or been part of a quicker resolution of “intractable” issues. He is expensive, I am sure. But if you want safety and money saved, he is worth every penny and more you will pay him. I would suggest at least $400 an hour.
You would never guess this from his paper at Banff. A good paper as noted by another Blogger whom I have just discovered: Dave’s Landslide Blog. I have added this blog to my list of must-read-regularly blogs. Amazing the many stories of landslides Dave tells. How can anybody be insensitive to a landslide or slope failure: the ultimate expression of the power of nature to restore equilibrium; or to sculpt a view of awesome beauty. Too often we engineers forget that landslides will prevail over our efforts and bring variety to the view in spite of our lazy attempts to create long, uniform slopes.
Also in the session was a fellow author at Banff. As he was the client, I will not describe him; except to say that as clients go, he is bold, bright, and not afraid to take responsibility. Afterall, if somebody wants the power to control the purse strings over folk of equal and greater intelligence, experience, humor, or energy, surely they must also be willing to take on the responsibility to lead, to face failure and turn it around, and move folk along fast to construction. He is superb—you will never be able to pay him enough—until he grays and goes consulting. By which time it will be $750 an hour–almost as much as a junior lawyer!
I must note that many of the papers at Banff were about oil sands tailings. While this strange animal exists only in Alberta, you may enjoy browsing the papers to appreciate how much human ingenuity is expended in understanding the material and finding ways to deal with it. Here is proud testimony to the industry and a stern rebuke to those uninformed yet vocal critics who bleat, but do not bleed perspiration and inspiration in the search for a solution. We owe them all a bow of appreciation for their work–regardless of the outcome. Their energy and achievements are so much more impressive than scary reports based on a degree in journalism and a loud headline in the national news. Keep up the good work, for this is what defines the honor of mining.
