El Mochito Mine

Project Highlights:

  • Upstream Cyclone Tailings Dam Design
  • Downstream Earthfill Tailings Dam Designs
  • Geologic Hazards Assessment
  • Detailed Design for Construction
  • As-Built Drawings
  • Emergency Action Plans
  • Operations Plans
  • Risk Analyses
  • CQA
  • Sighting and Alternatives Analyses
  • Hydraulics
  • Liqefaction
  • Water Balance

El Mochito is an underground zinc/silver mine located in the Santa Barbara Mountains in north-central Honduras. Tierra Group’s Team has been providing Tailings Stewardship Services at El Mochito continuously for the past 26 years. Since 1989, Tierra Group engineers have provided engineering consultancy, design, and construction services for three tailings storage facilities (El Bosque, Pozo Azul, and Soledad) to maintain continuous mining operations. Being located in the tropics, tailings management at El Mochito has been fraught with many challenges including; monsoons, floods, karstik terrain, debris flows, constructing with tropical soils (laterite and saprolite), and social unrest. During the full mine life-cycle of three tailings storage facilities, Tierra Group has persevered with the owners and mine management to maintain continual operations with zero lost-time accidents.

Since 2012, Tierra Group has provided EoR support for the Bosque, Pozo Azul, and Soledad TSFs. Tierra Group engineers provided engineering consultancy, design, and construction services to maintain continuous mining operations for three cyclone sand tailings dams (El Bosque, Pozo Azul, and Soledad). Additional EoR support included performance monitoring data acquisition and review, site-specific dam safety inspections, operations, and performance monitoring assessments.

Tailings management at El Mochito has been fraught with challenges: monsoons, floods, karstic terrain, debris flows, construction in tropical soils (laterite and saprolite), and social unrest. Nevertheless, during the entire mine life-cycle of three TSFs, Tierra Group has persevered with the owners and mine management to maintain operations with zero lost-time accidents.

Additional work in 2023 included supporting the Soledad dam raise by performing stability analyses and civil design of an upstream raise to a crest elevation of 810 meters.

Project Highlights:

  • Upstream Cyclone Tailings Dam Design
  • Downstream Earthfill Tailings Dam Designs
  • Geologic Hazards Assessment
  • Detailed Design for Construction
  • As-Built Drawings
  • Emergency Action Plans
  • Operations Plans
  • Risk Analyses
  • CQA
  • Sighting and Alternatives Analyses
  • Hydraulics
  • Liqefaction
  • Water Balance

Similar projects

Los Gatos TSF Management

Tierra Group provided Engineer of Record services; including the development of Operations, Maintenance, and Surveillance (OMS) Manual, the development of an Emergency Action Plan (EAP), and annual operational support to the Los Gatos project in Mexico.

VIEW PROJECT

Aurora Mine

The Aurora Mine Mill Facility (previously Esmeralda Mill) is located in the historic Aurora mining district of the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in Nevada, USA. Aurora recently, with the support of Tierra Group completed a Minor Modification to the…

VIEW PROJECT

Geotechnical Service for Area 2000

Tierra Group completed a collection of geomechanical field data (Inspections, mappings, sampling, testing, among others) for the tunnels, plant-mine road, areas at the base of the dump, access to tailings dam, truck shop slopes, bypass, and non-permanent accesses. The works…

VIEW PROJECT

Buriticá Tailings Stewardship & Cyanide Speciation

Tierra Group provided Tailings Stewardship Services for Continental Gold’s Buriticá Project in Antioquia, Columbia which included permitting support, Third-Party Review and construction and operations support. Tierra Group oversaw the development of a 2D hydrodynamic model to support the design of…

VIEW PROJECT

Kiaka Feasibility Study Update

Tierra Group led the Feasibility Study update for the Kiaka project. Tierra Group  updated the TSF, WRD, hydrology / hydraulics, mine planning, and overall assembly and authoring of the updated NI 43-101 Technical Report.

VIEW PROJECT

Freeboard Reduction

Tierra Group performed calculations and developed a technical memorandum requesting temporary authorization to impund within the current stage freeboard limits.

VIEW PROJECT

Buenaventura Photogrammetry Study for El Brocal Mine

Tierra Group developed a photogrammetry study and basic civil design for mining facilities layout at El Brocal Mine.

VIEW PROJECT

La Trinidad

Tierra Group began work at La Trinidad providing heap leach pad construction recommendations and a water balance. Tierra Group continued support with a heap leach pad expansion design, slope stability analyses, hydrologic analyses, diversion design, liner design, and leach solution…

VIEW PROJECT

Channel Design Support in Nevada

Tierra Group provided Civil3D channel design support of diversions for four sites within a large mining property in Nevada.

VIEW PROJECT

Minera Plata Real | Los Gatos TSF Phase 2

Tierra Group designed a raise of the tailings storage facility (TSF) and provided construction quality assurance for the Los Gatos project in Chihuahua, Mexico.

VIEW PROJECT

Turmalina Complex

Tierra Group developed a site-wide water management plan to improve operational water usage and management at Jaguar Mining's Turmalina Complex in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Turmalina is a zero-discharge facility that required optimizing tailings supernatant usage in the process, enhanced evaporation…

VIEW PROJECT

Sweetwater Mine

Sweetwater Mine Permitting Tierra Group’s Team began work at the Sweetwater mine in 1993 assisting permitting and developing tailings impoundment management strategies for the mine. We successfully designed and installed an innovative internal seal for repair of the mine’s damaged…

VIEW PROJECT