Director
Knight Piésold
Richard Elmer is the Director of Knight Piésold UK and is based in the London office. Richard is a geotechnical specialist with over 35 years of experience, specialising in the delivery of multidisciplinary mine feasibility studies and designs incorporating geological, geotechnical, engineering and environmental inputs.
Educated at Southampton University (BSc Geology) and Camborne School of Mines (MSc Mining Geology), Richard has worked on projects in Eastern and Western Europe; North and South America; Northern, Sub-Saharan, and Southern Africa; Central Asia; and Asia Pacific.
He is responsible for a significant portfolio of mine waste facility reviews and audits undertaken from the London office globally, and regularly presents on mine waste and tailings management best practice at industry seminars and conferences.
Tailings: Reduce, Reuse, Remine
Proactively reducing the generation of tailings at the source is central to minimising environmental impact and reducing the risk of catastrophic failures. Historical tailings facilities can contain potentially economic concentrations of valuable and critical metals. Re-mining the historic facility and constructing a new facility for the reprocessed tailings provides an opportunity to produce a new facility that meets international standards and minimises the risk to people and the environment. Re-mining aligns with circular economy goals by recycling tailings to extract critical metals without requiring a new mine to be constructed.
Tailings: Reduce, Reuse, Remine
Proactively reducing the generation of tailings at the source is central to minimising environmental impact and reducing the risk of catastrophic failures. Historical tailings facilities can contain potentially economic concentrations of valuable and critical metals. Re-mining the historic facility and constructing a new facility for the reprocessed tailings provides an opportunity to produce a new facility that meets international standards and minimises the risk to people and the environment. Re-mining aligns with circular economy goals by recycling tailings to extract critical metals without requiring a new mine to be constructed.
