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The gold mining industry is experiencing a significant slow-down caused by the reduction in the gold price after more than a decade of annual increases. The retrenchment has effected everyone in the business and has led to substantial uncertainty. While we’ve experienced retreats before, the rate and extent of this one has been unprecedented in recent memory. Engineering service providers to the industry are scrambling to understand what this means for them now and in the future so they can (1) implement survival strategies and (2) continue to provide the high quality work that society demands of an industry under the microscope. Tom Kerr of Knight Piesold, a specialist in geotechnical and environmental engineering for the mining industry, will explain how engineering service firms are coping with the downswing.
Tom Kerr is President of Knight Piésold and Co., the USA practice of Knight Piesold Consulting.
He is a Geotechnical Engineer with 32 years of experience in the design, construction, operation, and closure of geotechnical, water, and environmental projects for the mining industry. His principal areas of expertise are in tailings and heap leach management and he has been responsible for, and remains the Engineer of Record for, a number of such facilities around the world.
Tom earned his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan and a Master’s Degree in Soil Mechanics from Imperial College in London and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Colorado, California, Alaska, Michigan, British Columbia, and Ontario.
He has worked for Knight Piesold Consulting for all of his 32 years but spent the first 22 years in the firm’s Canadian practice. He became a senior officer in its Vancouver office and in 1994 he moved to Ontario to open and direct its new office. In 2004 he moved to Denver to lead the engineering practice of the firm’s USA operations and in 2009 was elevated to the role of President.
Tom is married to Karen and has two sons Christopher and Cameron.