Keynote Speakers
We are pleased to announce the participation of seven guest lecturers who will give keynote presentations during Slope Stability 2011.
PREMIER KEYNOTEOskar Steffen Principal Consultant of Mining, SRK Consulting
“Acceptable Risk’ for Open Pit Slope Design”
Dr. Oskar Steffen is a founding partner in the international firm SRK Consulting. His experience of almost 50 years in the mining industry encompasses the spheres of geotechnical design, mine operations and strategic mine planning. Oskar has acted on consulting boards for Chuquicamata, Bingham Canyon, Escondida, Southern Peru copper, Nchanga and Cadia, as well as an independent reviewer for operations on many other open pit mines, internationally. He is a Past President of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and received the Brigadier Stokes Award for his contribution to mining in South Africa in 1995, from the SAIMM. He was awarded the Geotechnical Gold Medal by the South African Institution of Civil Engineers in 2001, and the gold medal from SAIMM in 2007 for his paper on risk based slope design in open pit mines.
Martyn Robotham, Chief Advisor Geotechnical, Rio Tinto“Slope Design in Large Mining Operations”
Martyn is Chief Advisor Geotechnical with Rio Tinto’s Technology and Innovation in Brisbane. He gained his BSc Geology and MSc Engineering Geology from Royal School of Mines. Before joining Rio Tinto in 2001, Martyn worked as a mine geologist in South Africa and consultant in the UK and Australia where he was responsible for a range of mining projects, including major open cut coal feasibility studies in Indonesia and Venezuela. With Rio Tinto, Martyn has been involved in geotechnical work at most of their properties and projects across the world, including Technical Services Manager at Bingham Canyon where he was responsible for all geoscience aspects of the operation.
Loren Lorig, Chief Executive Officer, Itasca International “State of Numerical Modelling of Large Open Pit Slopes”
Loren has over 30 years of experience in specialized engineering consulting. His expertise is applying numerical models to provide solutions to stability, support and dynamics problems in civil and mining engineering. He has worked extensively at many of the largest open pits in the world and currently is Itasca’s project manager for the Large Open Pit project, an international research and technology transfer project on the stability of rock slopes in open pit mines. He was lead author for the Slope Design Methods chapter in the Guidelines for Open Pit Slope Design. He has served on a number of consulting and peer review boards for several large projects, conducted over 40 short courses and has authored more than 50 technical articles.
Geoff Beale, Principal Hydrogeologist, Schlumberger Water Services“Water and Pit Slopes – How Much Do We Understand?”
Geoff is one of the founding Directors of Schlumberger Water Services, with over 35 years' professional experience in hydrogeology and the mining industry. Since graduating in 1975, he has worked on over 250 mining projects in over 50 countries. Geoff is a worldwide expert in mine hydrology and mine water management, and is most noted for his global knowledge of open pit and underground mine dewatering projects. He has extensive mine closure experience, and has been a lead player in the closure program at a number of mine sites. Geoff works as a senior technical expert for many of the world’s largest mining operations. Over the past 15 years, he has been working with many operators in the characterization and control of pore pressures in low permeability rock slopes.
Phil Dight, Professor, Australian Centre for Geomechanics“Stress States in Rock Slopes”
Phil is the Winthrop Professor in Geotechnical Engineering at the Australian Centre for Geomechanics (ACG). Phil has been involved with the development and design of ground support for mining applications since 1980. He was a partner in BFP Consultants until BFP was acquired by Coffey Mining. Phil has extensive consulting experience on geotechnical aspects of the mining industry, and has worked on open pit and underground metalliferous mining problems. In 1985 he was awarded the Manuel Rocha Medal by the International Society of Rock Mechanics for his work in open pit mining and ground support. In 2008 he joined the Australian Centre for Geomechanics as Professor, geotechnical engineering.
Nick Rose, Principal and Vice President, Piteau Associates Engineering“The Evolving Role of the Slope Design Consultant”
Nick is a principal consulting geotechnical engineer and Vice President of Piteau Associates Engineering Ltd. in North Vancouver. He has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in geological engineering and rock mechanics from the University of British Columbia, with over 20 years experience on open pit and underground mining projects globally. Since joining Piteau Associates in 1994, he has specialized in the design and remediation of large open pit mine slopes and interaction assessments with surface and underground mine infrastructure. Much of this work has been focused on predictive forecasting of slope stability and deformation behaviour using advanced numerical modeling techniques and empirical methods.
Duncan Wyllie, Principal, Wyllie & Norrish Rock Engineering“Tornado Mountain – Documentation and Analysis of Rock Fall Mechanics”
Duncan is a Principal in the company Wyllie & Norrish Rock Engineers based in Vancouver. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and has a total of 42 years of experience in the field of rock engineering. He has worked on slope, landslide, tunnel, blasting and foundation projects throughout North America, as well as overseas. Duncan is also author of several books, including: Rock Slope Engineering, 4th Ed.; Foundations on Rock; and Landslides, Investigation and Mitigation. He has prepared manuals on rock slope engineering for the Federal Highway Administration, and taught over 80 courses for the National Highway Institute in Washington D.C.
