About

Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) Specialist

Chris Lane is Director and Principal Consultant (Engineering and Environmental Geologist) of L&MGSPL and TSF Review Pty Ltd (TSFRPL) with broad experience in civil construction fields, including site investigation of land based and marine based developments, and particular expertise in large resource projects.

He has more than 30 years’ experience in resource projects including site investigation and construction of infrastructure (plant sites, heap leach facilities, roads, railways and airstrips and tailing storage facilities (TSFs)).

Chris has completed many strategy studies and financial analysis of TSF options (including concept designs from project start up through to project closure). His involvement with TSFs covers aspects of design, construction, auditing and tailings/residue management reviews for a large number of projects covering a range of commodities including: alumina residue, bauxite residue, base metals (copper, lead and zinc), coal, gold, graphite, iron ore, manganese, nickel (sulphide and laterite), phosphate residues, rare earth residues, uranium and vanadium.   

Special interests are:

  • Dry stacked tailings storage facilities (DSTSF);
  • Inpit TSFs;
  • Integrated waste landforms (IWL), which is a TSF within a mine waste dump.   

Chris has experience in the following countries:

  • United Kingdom;
  • Middle East (Egypt, Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates);
  • Armenia;
  • Pakistan;
  • Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Vietnam);
  • West Africa (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal), East Africa (Ethiopia, Tanzania) and Southern Africa (Mozambique, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo);
  • South America (Brazil, Chile, Guyana and Uruguay).

Chris has experience in the following climatic regimes:

  • Tropical (high rainfall);
  • Humid Savannah (high seasonal rainfall);
  • Temperate;
  • Semi-arid;
  • Arid;
  • Hyper Arid.

Experience

2013 ‐ present

Principal Consultant, L&MGSPL, WA

2011 ‐ 2013

Principal Consultant, WorleyParsons, WA

2006 ‐ 2011

Senior Principal, Coffey Mining, WA

2005 ‐ 2006

General Manager Operations, Coffey Geosciences Pty Ltd

2003 ‐ 2005

Principal Engineering and Environmental Geologist, Regional Manager of Coffey WA (following the acquisition of Soil & Rock Engineering by Coffey in October 2003)

1991 ‐ 2003

Managing Director, Soil & Rock Engineering Pty Ltd, WA

1990 ‐ 1991

Director, Soil & Rock Engineering Pty Ltd, WA

1988 ‐ 1990

Associate Director, Soil & Rock Engineering Pty Ltd, WA

1985 ‐ 1988

Specialist Engineering Geologist, Soil & Rock Engineering Pty Ltd, WA

1982 ‐ 1985

Contracts Manager, Al Otaiba Foundation Engineering Limited

1981 ‐ 1982

Contracts Manager, Foundation Engineering Limited, Hong Kong

1979 ‐ 1981

Project Manager, Foundation Engineering Limited, United Arab Emirates

1978 ‐ 1979

Site Agent/Geologist, Foundation Engineering Limited, United Kingdom  

1977 ‐ 1978

Contract Geologist, C.R.A. Exploration, Cobar, New South Wales

1975 ‐ 1977

Assistant Research Officer, Commonwealth Department of Environment, Housing and Community Development, Canberra

L&MGSPL and TSFRPL specialise in the execution of high level geotechnical work associated with tailings storage facilities (TSFs) and other mine infrastructure from initial site reconnaissance and assessment during exploration through study phases for development of mine projects.