Pueblo Viejo Mine

The Pueblo Viejo Mine located in the central Dominican Republic recommenced gold production in 2013. Although modern-day mining efforts were initiated in 1975, mine reconstruction was undertaken in 2009 with capital expenditures totaling $3.7 billion.

The site is in a high-seismic and high-rainfall area in a geologic setting comprised of saprolite, complex metavolcanics, and karstic limestone. Work fronts have included tailings dam design and hydrogeology, foundation design for the plant site, landslide investigation and remediation, transmission line routing, and reclamation of historical mining facilities.

BGC has provided design and support for the Pueblo Viejo Project from conceptual design through prefeasibility, feasibility, construction, and operations from 2001 through to the present.

A major focus of BGC’s involvement on the project has been as the Engineer of Record for the newly-commissioned tailings and waste storage facility. The tailings facility comprises several zoned earthfill tailings dams, one of which will reach an ultimate height of 140 m. BGC conducted a number of studies related to the tailings facility, including:

• Developing a tailings management plan for the mine life
• Providing a probabilistic water balance
• Conducting annual dam inspections and training of client staff to conduct routine dam inspections
• Designing dam raises and instrumentation systems to assess the performance of the dams
• Provision of quality assurance services during construction

BGC has also been retained to conduct studies related to the ongoing construction and operation of the El Llagal Tailings Storage Facility. The ongoing construction support includes:

• Preparation of design drawings and technical specifications
• Tender bid assessment
• Construction quality assurance services
• Advanced laboratory testing
• Resident engineering services
• Instrument readings and interpretation during construction
• Construction records reporting