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By Hugo Melo

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South America

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Hugo Melo

August, 2018

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BHP Billiton intends to develop two new bauxite mines in Suriname. A feasibility study was completed in September 2004, and SRK is managing an ongoing Environmental Impact Assessment under trying field conditions of rainforest and swamp. Ecology, water management and NGO issues are of key importance. SRK expects to play a significant ongoing role in the future expansion of bauxite mining in Suriname.

MLP Tailings 
Minera Los Pelambres retained SRK to assist in developing the conceptual engineering design for three proposed dam sites and the basic engineering design for Quebrada Seca, the preferred option. A core group of specialists and a large support team, working in Santiago, designed the tailings impoundment, tailings distribution systems and tunnels, with related investigations. SRK continues work on the tunnel design for the Mauro site.

Codelco
In 2003, SRK reviewed the geology and resource models of Codelco Norte’s Chuquicamata and Radimiro Tomic open-cut copper mines and the Mansa Mina advanced exploration project in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Chuquicamata is the world's largest open-cut copper mine.  Government owned and run, Codelco Norte provides a substantial percentage of Chile’s GDP. 

Los Pelambres
As part of an overall expansion plan for the Los Pelambres Mine, this study included water management, hydrochemical modeling and stability analyses. During closure the waste dumps in the pit area will hold up to 1300 million tons at a height of up to 600m. Large-scale in-situ geomechanical testing was required to characterize the waste rock, which included boulder-size fragments.

Andina
SRK opened a project office at the Codelco-Chile Andina Division in 1996 and established a resident team for environmental management support, implementing ISO 14000 standards. SRK is currently in its third service period at the site. The Santiago environmental team also assisted the Salvador Division of Codelco in 2003 to successfully implement an EMS and achieve ISO 14001 certification.

Santiago Subway
By the end of 2005, 38.6km of tunnels and surface lines need to be constructed to extend Line 4 of the Santiago subway. SRK’s participation with the construction company OHL and the Consortia Ferrovial-Agroman-Besalco and Vial y Vives-Echeverría Izquierdo-Icafal includes optimizing the underground excavation method and modifying the construction methods for the stations. Key issues have been time and cost saving.

Cerro Matoso
SRK was retained by a syndicate of project lending banks led by Barclays Capital to undertake a technical due diligence of the existing operations and planned expansion of the Cerro Matoso Mine. The principal objective was to verify that the expansion plans were based on adequate data and formulated according to sound mining, smelting and engineering principles and good environmental practice.

Pascua Lama
Barrick Chile retained SRK to carry out site investigations for the Pascua Lama Project, located at more than 5000 mamsl, in the Cordillera de Los Andes, Argentina, near the border with Chile. Work included foundation assessment, establishing geotechnical design criteria and design of the planned 2.75km long conveyor tunnel, making recommendations for site grading, building footings and assessing the avalanche risk.

El Teniente Pit
SRK completed exploratory engineering and scoping studies for the profile and conceptual phases of the Open Pit Project for the El Teniente Division of Codelco-Chile. Fieldwork began with a pilot geotechnical drilling program to set standards for collecting the field data in following phases. This project is noteworthy as a serious study for combining major open pit and underground mining.

U/G Tailings
SRK studied the feasibility of depositing the tailings from a concentrator plant into stopes of an underground mine in northern Chile. This study included the evaluation of different options for tailings dewatering, conduction and transport, and the assessment of the possible impact on groundwater in the La Ligua Valley, an important zone for the production of agricultural products for export.