About Us

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Dirk received a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering in 1972 and a B.Sc. (Honors) Civil Engineering in 1974, both from the University of Pretoria, South Africa.  He also received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Geotechnical Engineering from Purdue University in 1976 and 1979, respectively.  In 1998 he completed an Executive MBA at the University of Colorado.  He is a registered professional engineer in the US and British Columbia. Dirk has consulted internationally on many mining projects with respect to tailings, heap leach and mine rock management.  These projects covered the whole mining life cycle, from exploration to closure and post-closure, in a large range of climatic and geographic environments.  Most recently his consulting relates to Tailings Review Boards and Panels in Canada, USA and Internationally. A number of these are related to mine closure pre-feasibility studies for mines in a large range of climatic zones. 

Recent Panel Assignments:

• In 2014 he was selected as a member of the Panel appointed by the British Columbia Government as well as the Williams Lake and Soda Creek Indian Bands to investigate the Mount Polley tailings failure.
• Member of the Independent Technical Review Board for the Investigation of the North Tailings Storage Facility of the Cadia Valley Operations, Newcrest, Mining in NSW from 2018 to 2019. The rest of the Board included Dr. Norbert Morgenstern (Chair), Mr. Michael Jefferies and Mr. John Wates.
• Member of the Expert Panel of the Global Tailings Review, Convened jointly by the International Council on Mining and Metals, Principles for Responsible Investment and the United Nations Environmental Program, 2019 to 2020. The Expert Panel compiled the Global Tailings Standard as an Independent Process that included a Public Consultation Period as well as review by a multi-stakeholder Advisory Group.

Dirk has more than 100 publications to his credit; these include papers and book chapters.  He has also presented numerous short courses on heap leach design, mining environmental management and mine closure in the US and abroad.  He is the recipient of the three awards from the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME).  These are the Robert Peele Award (1985) and Distinguished Service Award (1992) from the Mining and Exploration Division, and a President’s Citation (1998).  Dirk became a Distinguished Member of SME in 2003.  He received the Bureau of Land Management Sustainable Development award in 2005 and the Adrian Smith International Environmental Mining Award in 2006. In 2016, Dirk was nominated and approved by the CIM Council for the Distinguished Lecturer series through the Environment and Social Responsibility Society. His topic was Tailings Risk Management.