Store
Resources
Blog
About Services Contact

Services

Soma Geotechnical's unique value proposition provides the Australian mining industry with all the support they need to derive unparalleled value from their assets and minimise risk & liability.

Organisational & Strategic Mining Geotechnical Risk & Liability Management 

Comprehensive Mining Geotechnical Consulting

 

Operational Mining Geotechnical Risk & Liability Management 

Differentiators

  • Thought leadership in geotechnical risk & liability - LinkedIn newsletter articles read over 30,000 times, with ~2,000 subscribers.
  • Group Mining Principal Geotechnical Engineer level expertise in organisational risk evaluation of brownfields mine sites and Tailings Storage Facilities throughout all project stages from conceptual evaluation to relinquishment.
  • Integration of current and relevant legislation and case law outcomes into geotechnical risk management systems.
  • Identification of cascading geotechnical principal hazards and quantification of control measure options to meet SFAIRP.
  • Management of complex geotechnical systems of dynamically interacting features including civil infrastructure, aboriginal heritage features, abandoned mine features, seismicity, high stress and squeezing ground conditions, environmentally protected areas, liquefiable soils, concurrent underground and open pit mining in close proximity, subsidence, underground mining close to surface water storage, blasting impact assessments on civil infrastructure, low-stress conditions, sinkholes, high water tables and corroded ground support.
  • Current technical experience in void management, crown pillar stability, vertical shaft ground support design, airleg stoping, monitoring of critical infrastructure using GNSS and InSAR satellite data, mine closure and rehabilitation.

Projects

  • Merger Due Diligence - Silverlake Resources and Red 5 Ltd Merger, 2024
  • Organisational Risk - developed and implemented a new organisational geotechnical risk management plan providing a complete toolbox of legislative and regulatory risk & liability management applicable to the Western Australian mining industry  - Red 5 Ltd 2024
  • Organisational Risk – quantified the instability risk between remnant underground stopes and the open pit  – Darlot gold mine WA, Vault Minerals 2024
  • Strategic Risk – new subsidence risk areas identified from InSAR remote sensing satellite data – Darlot gold mine WA, Vault Minerals 2024
  • Life of Asset Design Assessment - implementation level pit design recommendations, derivation of rockmass parameters from new and existing geotechnical diamond drilling data, slope stability modelling using Vulcan, Dips and Slide2 software and reporting – King of the Hills open pit Stages 1 & 2, Red 5 Ltd 2024-2023
  • Abandoned Mine Features - identification of 460 previously unknown historic abandoned mine features between the camp and the active mining area from high resolution LIDAR drone scans, interrogation of DEMIRS data repositories to obtain historic information for a data review, and development of rehabilitation options, schedule and budget – Darlot gold mine WA, Red 5 Ltd 2023
  • Principal Mining Hazards – development and documentation of a qualitative geotechnical risk ranking methodology using a calculation of weighted contributary factors and triggers unique to the Yilgarn Craton, approved by DEMIRS for use – Darlot gold mine WA, Red 5 Ltd 2023
  • Risk Assessments - Facilitated concurrent open pit and underground mining interacting with abandoned mine shafts geotechnical risk assessments onsite with all stakeholders including contractors - King of the Hills and Darlot gold mines WA, Red 5 Ltd 2023 to 2022
  • Organisational Risk Evaluation - LIDAR drone imagery remotely evaluate long term deformation and Gem4D software - King of the Hills open pit gold mine WA, Red 5 Ltd, 2022
  • Strategic Risk - Surface Deformation Monitoring - utilised Trimble T4D at Great Western, Darlot and King of the Hills open pit gold mines WA, Red 5 Ltd 2021
  • Organisational Risk - Blast Vibration Assessment – study of open pit blasting impacts on geotechnical structures of aboriginal heritage significance and an endangered stygofauna habitat, recommendations and reporting - Mesa A open pit mine WA, Rio Tinto 2019
  • Mine Closure and Rehab - final study and closure design landform de-commissioning project team, Channar open pits WA, Rio Tinto, 2017
  • WHS Risk - Managing Contractors to Undertake High Risk Excavation Work for the Bungaroo Pre-Feasibility open pit Study flood diversion levee WA – Rio Tinto 2017-2016
  • Operational Risk - Stability assessment of earthworks machinery working near unstable ground for open pit closure, zone of influence stability for abandonment bund placement, safe offset distance recommendations for machinery to work near an open pit crest using RS2 numerical modelling software - Pilbara Iron Ore WA, Rio Tinto 2016
  • High Risk Construction Projects - Supervision of Excavation Works, M5 West Road Widening Project NSW – Coffey, 2014
  • Reputational Risk - Remote visual inspections and assessment of a historic abandoned underground tunnel and ground support design to protect the roost of a colony of endangered Orange Leaf Nosed Bats, Rio Tinto Koodaideri open pit mine WA – Coffey, 2014