Workshops

Sunday, May 6 - Half day

• 8:30-12:30 Mining 101 - An introduction to mining and mineral processing (Room 116)

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  Aspects of Geology, Mining and Mineral Processing will be addressed in the context of the discovery, development and production of mineral deposits. This course will provide a basic introduction of the critical technical factors impacting on the success of mining companies.

  Facilitator:
  George McIsaac, P.Eng., Ph.D., is a mining engineer and a mineral economist, with 35 years’ experience in industry, research and development, consulting, and teaching. He specializes in the economics of the mine, combining design, planning, costing, and cash flow estimation, to optimize mine operations and exploration activities. He founded Geology & Mining Evaluation Consulting (G-MEC), a company providing services in strategic planning and economic evaluation to exploration companies and producing mines.

  Location: Room 116

• 13:00-16:30 TSM and Tailings Management (Room 116)

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  Launched in 2004 by the Mining Association of Canada (MAC), the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative is a performance system that helps mining companies and their facilities evaluate and manage their environmental and social performance. TSM includes a set of tools and indicators to drive continuous performance improvement, provide transparent results to communities of interest, and ensure that key mining risks are managed effectively.

  Participation in the TSM initiative is mandatory for all MAC member companies as a condition of membership. Upon becoming a member, companies commit to TSM’s Guiding Principles – a set of leadership and operational commitments that relate to protecting the environment, establishing a safe workplace, and protecting the interests of Aboriginal communities and other stakeholders.

  This workshop will provide a brief overview of TSM and a deeper focus on the TSM Tailings Management Protocol and associated guidance documents, a fundamental element of TSM. MAC has recently reviewed this aspect of the program and made several important enhancements to the protocol and guides. Participants will learn about the best practices related to tailings management and what TSM requires of participating companies.

  Facilitator:
  Charles Dumaresq, Vice President, Science and Environmental Management, The Mining Association of Canada
  Charles focuses on regulatory and environmental aspects of mining, including mine waste management, effluent quality, and monitoring and mitigating effects on water quality and the aquatic environment. Prior to joining MAC, Charles spent 22 years with the Government of Canada, working on issues related to mining and the environment. He is experienced in technical and policy aspects related to legacy environmental issues associated with orphaned and abandoned mines, and has extensive experience in regulatory development and implementation. A geologist by training, Charles first gained experience in the mining industry working on mineral exploration projects.

  Ben Chalmers, Vice President, Sustainable Development, The Mining Association of Canada
  Ben is responsible for the implementation of MAC’s Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative. In his role, he works with members on issues related to corporate responsibility both within Canada and abroad. Ben also follows policy development related to wildlife, including biodiversity, species at risk and migratory birds. Ben began working in the industry in 2004 at the Myra Falls Operations in British Columbia where he worked as an Environmental Supervisor for the mine. Prior to joining MAC in 2011, Ben served as Vice President of Environment and Technical Affairs for the Mining Association of British Columbia and Senior Policy Analyst with Natural Resources Canada. Ben also served as Chair of the Board for the Campbell River Economic Development Corporation.

  Location: Room 116

Sunday, May 6 - Full day

• 8:30-16:30 The science of communication - the CSR practitioner's role in building trust through media (Room 118)

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  The Need: Effective communication builds trust, and trust is essential for mineral exploration, development and mining companies to gain necessary public support to successfully explore for minerals, permit, build and operate mines--When trust goes up, speed goes up and costs go down.

  Many companies are reluctant to promote the work they do in communities and to manage their environmental footprint for fear of it being labeled as “greenwashing.” While resource companies need to be strategic and sensitive about how to communicate their CSR activities, they should also be consistently sharing stories about corporate citizenship, whether it’s a community investment or the strict standards applied to environmental controls. It’s as much about building and maintaining reputational value and building trust as it is about managing risk.

  The Return on Investment: Corporate reputation accounts for $566 billion, or more than $1 in every $5 of shareholder value in Canada’s resource sectors according to calculations made using the latest ‘Reputation Dividend’ report. The sector is rife with examples of projects stalled, stopped or abandoned because stakeholders were not sufficiently engaged, trust was weak leaving corporations’ reputation damaged and eroded. The media plays a critical role in a company’s reputation management. Leveraging this medium can directly impact a Project’s economic outcome as it can influence the minds of key stakeholders. CSR activities are those media story gems capable of causing significant positive influence, if narrated strategically.

  The Workshop: This highly interactive workshop will discuss the role media plays in building trust and how CSR professionals can effectively tell their stories through the media to gain public trust for their organization. Participants will work through a series of activities and on-camera interviews to help them think like journalists and identify news stories which will improve the organization’s reputation, build trust and lower the cost of doing business.

  Through the course of the workshop, participants will learn how to choose and develop the most appropriate media relations strategies for building trust and gaining the support necessary to explore, obtain environmental permits, develop a mine, and through production and closure.

  Robert will provide insight on how your communication style and the style of media can be complementary; how to build skills and strategies to clearly and effectively receive and transmit information, ideas, thoughts; and how to identify and close trust gaps that exist between the organization, stakeholders and the media.

  Facilitator
  Robert Simpson, our trainer is a former print, television and on-line journalist. He has worked with over 2,000 engineers and scientists to effectively communicate complex concepts to non‐science audiences which has helped to get approval for $20.5 billion dollars of new project investment and launch over $600 million dollars of new technology. His approach to media training is unique. Unlike most trainers, Robert Simpson, does not use scare tactics or the “angry journalist” approach to frighten media spokespeople into submission or to fear the media. Rather, his approach is more practical and representative of today’s media landscape. Robert’s approach to media spokesperson training is to teach compelling storytelling though improved listening skills, interview preparedness and spokesperson presentation skills to result in confident and compelling media spokespeople.

  Location: Room 118

• 8:00-17:00 State of practice in water, tailings and mineral waste management (Room 110)

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  This is the fourth annual workshop on the State of the Practice for Water, Tailings and Mineral Waste Management carried out in conjunction with the Mining Association of Canada. This workshop is designed to:

  • Update participants on the recently released, and internationally recognized, A Guide to the Management of Tailings Facilities (Third Edition) from the Mining Association of Canada; and
  • Stimulate participant conversation on competency, training and succession planning of professionals involved in tailings engineering and management.

  The morning session will provide participants with an opportunity to:

  A. Be updated on MAC Guide to the Management of Tailings Facilities:

  1. Mike Davies, Chair, MAC Tailings Working Group will provide an update on changes to the Guide and progress on updating the OMS Manual;
  2. Randy Donato, Senior Tailings Engineer, Vale Canada will provide an overview for a risk-based approach and critical controls;
  3. Charles Dumaresq, Vice President, MAC will speak on integrating mine planning, from assessment of alternatives to technical considerations;
  4. Lyle Safronetz, Manager, Environment, Vale Base Metals will discuss assurance from the perspective of management systems and independent reviews; and
  5. The Breakout Session will explore: What are the roadblocks that a mining company will face in implementing this Third Edition of the Guide to Management of Tailings Facilities?

  The afternoon session will:

  B. Explore competence, training and succession planning for key professionals across the life cycle of a tailings facility:

  1. Mike Jacobs, Director, Water and Tailings, Goldcorp Inc. the role of Accountable Executive Officer;
  2. Caius Priscu, Head of Mineral Residue Facilities and Water Management, Anglo American, the role of Responsible Person(s);
  3. Michel Julien, Vice President, Environment, Agnico Eagle Mines Limited, the role of Engineer-of-Record;
  4. Mike Davies, Senior Advisor, Tailings and Mine Waste, Teck Resources Limited, the role of Independent Review.

  The Breakout Session will explore: What are the body of skills, knowledge and experience for competency in these key roles? How are those attributes best measured?

  Whether you are an Accountable Executive Officer, Tailings Manager, Qualified Persons (QP), Responsible Person, Lead Designer, Engineer of Record, Independent Reviewer, NGO, and/or regulating, reviewing, approving tailings facilities and management systems, you should be part of this conversation.

  This Workshop runs from 8:00 am to 5 pm, Sunday May 6, 2018

  Facilitator:
  Rick Siwik, Siwik Consulting Inc.

  Location: Room 110

• 8:00-17:00  Mineral resource estimation and simulation (Room 115)

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  This workshop is an overview of resource estimation from data collection to mineral resource estimation and simulation, and validation. Different estimation and conditional simulation methodologies will be presented. Challenges of geometallurgical modelling will be discussed. A significant risk to proper valuation of a mining project is associated with data collection, geological interpretation and mineral resource modelling methodology.

  Facilitator:Georges Verly, Chief Geostatistician, Amec Foster Wheeler

  Location: Room 115

• 8:30-16:30 “Bio”Treatment for Mining Waters: Current State of Knowledge and Best Practices (Room 119)

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  This course is an introduction to the best practices for the design, implementation, operation, and troubleshooting of biotreatment in the mining sector. Biotreatment encompasses passive, semi-passive, and active treatment systems, with a focus on coupled biological and geochemical processes (although other methods will also be discussed). Examples include bioreactors, constructed treatment wetlands, in pit treatment, and in situ mine pool treatment. Design aspects as well as challenges and considerations will be addressed. Material will be covered in one day through classroom learning and case studies.

  Outline:

  1. Course Overview / Welcome / Safety Moment
  2. History and Fundamentals of Passive and Semi-Passive Water Treatment
  3. Assessing and Optimizing Treatment Effectiveness
  4. Process Driven Design – Case Studies
  5. Frequently Encountered Challenges or Considerations

  Facilitators:
  Monique Simair (Haakensen), PhD, RPBio, PBiol, EP is the founder, President and Principal Scientist at Contango Strategies. Her expertise in bioremediation and passive/semi-passive water treatment spans from conceptual planning and design, to technical and public regulatory hearings, through to implementation and long-term closure. She has worked on treatment wetlands for over fifteen mines. Outside of Contango, Monique sits on a number of boards and committees, and serves as an Adjunct Professor with the University of Saskatchewan School of Environment and Sustainability, Clemson University’s Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, and previously as an Academic Lead for the University Arctic.

  Vanessa Friesen, PhD, EP has worked in the environmental industry since 2011. With Contango, she has experience as a scientific lead or collaborator on projects (over 25), including remediation, water treatment, and industrial and environmental microbiology. She has extensive knowledge in biogeochemistry, scientific design and testing of treatment systems, project planning and management, and scientific data analysis and multidisciplinary interpretation. She has coordinated the phased approach for passive and semi-passive water treatment system development, including feasibility studies, site assessments, modeling, design, and testing for projects world-wide. She has also provided specialist support for bioreactor performance monitoring, optimization, and control. Dr. Friesen oversees supervision of technical staff, and provides scientific oversight to projects at Contango. Prior to joining Contango, Vanessa successfully lead the development of novel microbial profiling services which are now being applied at Contango to assess environmental and remediation projects around the world.

  Location: Room 119