Chris Bareither and Joe Scalia: Universities must educate and train additional tailings professionals to support mining industry

Mining Engineering cover of August 2022 editionAssociate Professors Chris Bareither and Joe Scalia co-authored the lead article in August’s edition of Mining Engineering. The article, “Characterizing tailings professional labor demand,” is based on a study that aims to raise awareness of the growing demand for tailings labor resources and the need for collaboration within academia and industry to recruit, train and retain future tailings professionals. Former master’s student Louise Spencer, now at consulting firm NewFields, is lead author, and co-authors include alumnus Christopher Hatton (B.S. ’86, M.S. ’88), senior program leader at Golder Associates WSP, and Kelly Ward, vice president at Marsh Mining, Metals & Minerals.

The study estimates that as many as 18,900 qualified and trained personnel are needed to manage the minimum estimated 17,000 tailings facilities worldwide.

Bareither and Scalia are involved in two academic-industry partnerships to improve mining waste stewardship: the Tailings Center, a CSU partnership with Colorado School of Mines and the University of Arizona, and the Tailings and Industrial Waste Engineering Center (TAILENG), a collaboration with geotechnical engineering faculty at Georgia Tech, UC Berkeley and the University of Illinois. CSU also founded the Tailings & Mine Waste Conference, the premier technical gathering on the subject since 1978.

Read the article, “Characterizing tailings professional labor demand,” here.