Extract Value, Preserve Safety

How We Help Clients

• Operations & Infrastructure

  When technical or operational challenges are creating risk or increasing costs, get the extra problem-solving power you need to overcome them.

  Exponent engineers and scientists thrive on solving formidable mining issues. Whether it's analyzing high-walls or improving processes, we get to the right answers by applying smart science and creative thinking.   

  • Assessing slopes, tunnels, and dams
  • Solving complex road plan and site design challenges 
  • Improving safety processes and supporting Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) compliance 
  • Analyzing and helping to prevent heavy machinery and equipment failures  
  • Conducting advanced environmental studies 
  • Creating analytical models for prediction and prevention of ground subsidence and adverse alterations to the groundwater regime

  We create custom teams to tackle your challenge, drawing from civil engineering, geology, materials and corrosion engineering, data sciences, and dozens of other disciplines. 

• Planning & Permitting 

  As mining and forestry operations increasingly encroach on inhabited areas, having the right science and engineering support can make the difference between a green light and a red one.

  Exponent specializes in complex studies that tackle unique situations. Our multidisciplinary teams can answer a broad range of highly technical questions and engineering challenges.  

• Mining Process & Performance 

  Are your mine and plant delivering the quantity and quality expected? Exponent's geology, mining, mineral processing, and machinery experts can help you solve problems related to exploration, drilling and blasting, conveying and transport, crushing, beneficiation, tailings disposal, and remediation. We employ cutting-edge techniques such as remote sensing, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), and robotic sensors that can help characterize rock masses. We investigate drilling and blasting accidents, crushing and beneficiation plant failures, process plant upsets, and tailings disposal issues.

  We can create highly detailed assessments of mining operations to help with planning and for use in due diligence for prospective investors or buyers.  

• Spills & Releases

  If hazardous substances escape your operations, manage the environmental impact and remediation with expert scientific guidance.  

  Our multidisciplinary scientific and engineering teams can give you a clear understanding of how the incident may affect the air, soil, and groundwater. Across tailing-dam failures, fugitive dust, and groundwater flows, we've helped clients:

  • Model the dispersion of pollutants  
  • Understand the environmental fate and transport of released substances  
  • Design and deploy water and air monitoring networks 
  • Analyze the potential impact on human health and the environment 
  • Outline remediation efforts for affected areas 
  • Plan and design repairs and improvements 

  As part of a remediation or dispute, Exponent can create a detailed mine plan with improvements designed to prevent future incidents. 

• Sustainability

  We help you understand the impact of climate change on your business, now and in the future. Will you have enough water available? Too much? How might regulations evolve? How can your operations use less energy and prepare for weather extremes? 

• Worker Safety & Incidents

  Mining and forestry are some of the most challenging industries for worker safety, with job sites full of large equipment, great heights, potentially unstable formations, heavy metals, exhaust fumes, dust clouds, and other hazards. An extra set of skilled eyes can help reduce your risk of catastrophe.

  Exponent specializes in helping prevent and investigate mining workplace accidents. Our site industrial hygiene inspections can uncover risks large and small and provide detailed mitigation support. Our vehicle team has specific expertise in how the safety features of heavy mining equipment can fail or be circumvented.

  On a larger scale, we specialize in identifying the causes of major incidents such as collapses, cave-ins, and floods. Our experts can analyze all available information, including data from sensors in equipment or in the ground, to understand root causes and contributing causes. We can provide detailed remediation plans to address regulatory concerns and mitigate future risks. 

• Disputes

  When you need to objectively understand a business challenge, Exponent brings principled science to the task — telling you what you need to know, not what you want to hear. 

  Exponent scientists and engineers represent the science at dispute proceedings by bringing clarity, precision, and a knack for explaining complicated topics in understandable ways for judges and juries. 

  We can assist you across all phases of disputes, including pre-litigation, fact-finding, report preparation, and expert testimony.