El Limón Mine

Project Highlights:

  • MSE Dam Raise
  • TSF Design
  • Water Balance
  • Operations Plans
  • Rock-Fill Conventional TSF Design
  • PMF Hydrology and Hydraulics Designs
  • Facility Expansion
  • Tailings Coverage
  • Seismic Stability
  • Site-Wide Mine Closure & Reclamation Plan
  • Aquifer Testing
  • Independent Design Review
  • Geotechnical Investigation
  • Pre-Feasibility Study
  • Construction Quality Assurance

Tailings Storage Facility & Engineer of Record (2012-present)

Tierra Group engineers provided engineering consultancy, design, and construction services for three Tailings Storage Facilities (TSF) (Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa West, and San José) to facilitate 20 years of uninterrupted mine operations. Tierra Group’s services spanned the full tailings lifecycle including siting studies, environmental impact assessments, permitting, feasibility through detailed engineering design, bid documents, resident engineering, construction quality assurance, operations and maintenance, decommissioning, closure, and reclamation.

Tierra Group served as the Engineer of Record (EoR) for the Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa West, and San José TSFs. As the EoR, Tierra Group developed detailed TSF water balance spreadsheet tools, reviewed monitoring data collected by B2Gold and later Calibre each month, conducted annual TSF inspections, and prepared an annual monitoring report to document TSF performance and dam safety.

Aquifer Testing

Tierra Group performed a comprehensive pumping test data review of the mine's revised dewatering plan, with inflows up to 3,000 gpm.

Independent Design Review

Tierra Group performed an independent design review of an open pit design and provided design improvement recommendations.

Stability Evaluation

Tierra Group performed a geotechnical field investigation to support the San Jose TSF Stage 4 final design and evaluate pit slope stability. Tierra Group incorporated field data into a 3D geologic/geotechnical model that evaluated pit slope stability.

Pit Feasibility Investigation

Tierra Group conducted a geotechnical field investigation to characterize the geology and determine preliminary pit slopes for three new pits. Pit slope angles were used to support the feasibility pit design (performed by others).

Pit Feasibility Investigation

Tierra Group provided CQA services (earthworks, geomembrane, and geotechnical monitoring instrumentation) for the San Jose Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) Phase 4B expansion.

Project Highlights:

  • MSE Dam Raise
  • TSF Design
  • Water Balance
  • Operations Plans
  • Rock-Fill Conventional TSF Design
  • PMF Hydrology and Hydraulics Designs
  • Facility Expansion
  • Tailings Coverage
  • Seismic Stability
  • Site-Wide Mine Closure & Reclamation Plan
  • Aquifer Testing
  • Independent Design Review
  • Geotechnical Investigation
  • Pre-Feasibility Study
  • Construction Quality Assurance

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