The implementation of comprehensive monitoring plans for tailings management sites is now a requirement for mining operators. They must demonstrate that water and soil quality are managed according to the strictest standards. A well-designed monitoring plan is essential to ensure compliance throughout the lifecycle of operations, from mine planning to decades after closure.

The development of such a plan requires the collaboration of a multidisciplinary team and experts with advanced technical knowledge. This course aims to train professionals in an often-overlooked aspect of the expertise required for developing monitoring plans: instrumentation.

This course provides an overview of the components of a monitoring system used in the context of a monitoring plan, including the selection and installation of instruments, data collection methods, and software used to manage both the instruments and their data. The first part of the course will focus on piezometers, water quality probes, and other instruments used for environmental monitoring, based on our experience at mining sites across Canada. The second part includes a hands-on session with instruments and acquisition systems commonly used for monitoring tailings sites. The third part of the course focuses on monitoring plan design and provides an overview of a framework that formalizes the interaction between the monitoring plan, field data, and software used to monitor data in real time.

Presenter Descriptions:

Vincent Le Borgne, Ph.D., Eng.
Since 2015, Vincent Le Borgne has been the Director of Research and Development at GKM Consultants. He has been involved in the design, implementation, and management of monitoring systems for numerous mine sites in Quebec, Nunavut, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, among other locations. Vincent has shared his expertise as a speaker at many international conferences, including Tailings and Mine Waste, the International Course on Geotechnical and Structural Monitoring, CIMConnect, and GeoNiagara.

John Lemieux, Eng.
John Lemieux is a mining engineer with extensive experience in geotechnical engineering and tailings management since 1996. He began his career conducting geotechnical investigations, installing instrumentation, and overseeing soil and concrete quality control at mine sites. He has been involved in the planning and study of various open-pit and underground mining projects, as well as numerous earthworks, road construction, dam building, and shoring projects.

Throughout his career, John has been primarily responsible for the coordination, planning, design, and management of tailings facilities, slope stability studies, mine dewatering management, and cost and risk analyses. He also has exceptional expertise in soil and concrete quality control, having supervised construction projects for earthworks (dams and dikes) across Quebec, Ontario, Newfoundland, and the Northwest Territories for many years.

In addition to his project management expertise, John has extensive experience in mine reclamation, having participated as a designer in various projects in Quebec and abroad.