| |
AIG and AusIMM regretfully advise that this technical talk has been cancelled due to circumstances beyond Bryan’s control, as he is not able to present material on the tailings dam failure at this time. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Special Event Technical TalkPresented by Bryan D. Watts, M.Sc., Professional Engineer
Thursday 4 May 2017
5.15pm for a 6.15pm talk commencement, event will conclude at 7.30 pm.
Royal on the Park
152 Alice Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000
AbstractThe Fundao tailings dam at the Samarco iron ore mine in Minais Gerais, Brazil failed on November 4, 2015 with the release of 32 million cubic metres of tailings and the deaths of 19 persons. A Panel was convened by the owners of the mine through a legal firm to determine the physical cause of the failure. Their report was released in September 2016 on www.fundaoinvestigations.com to the public. This presentation will describe the engineering procedures used to conduct the forensic investigation and the results. The major hurdles were: the complete loss of the dam so no post-failure site investigations could be conducted, all documentation in Portuguese, and no direct access to the designers or mine personnel. In spite of this, the Panel was able to identify that the presence of slimes in the left abutment led to static liquefaction there by a process termed “extrusion collapse”.
Bryan holds a B.A.Sc. (1974) in Geological Engineering from UBC and a M.Sc. in Civil Engineering (1981) from the U of A. He has 40 years of experience in the design, construction, operation and closure of tailings dams in Canada and abroad. He is Past – President of Klohn Crippen Berger, a consulting company of 450 persons in the hydro and mining industries. He was part of the forensic investigation teams for the Omai, Los Frailes, Mount Polley, and Fundao tailings dam failures. He sits on Tailings Review Boards for many mine sites.
Bryan is Past-President of the Canadian Geotechnical Society. He holds the KY Lo Medal for significant contributions to engineering at the international level, the R.M. Quigley best paper in the Canadian Geotechnical Journal, and the best paper award from the Canadian Dam Association.
Due to the event cancellation, registrations are now closed. AIG and AusIMM regretfully advise that this technical talk has been cancelled due to circumstances beyond Bryan’s control, as he is not able to present material on the tailings dam failure at this time. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Existing registrants will be notified via email, however if you have registered for a delegate or partner, please forward on this notice.
Download the event flyer here.
BookingsRegistrations have now closed. |
