CHRIS MILLS
B.Sc. (Eng.), A.R.S.M., M.Sc., M.C.I.M., M.A.I.M.E., P.Eng.
Consulting Environmental & Mineral Process Engineer
Chris was educated at Warwick School and
The Royal School of Mines in England, The Colorado School of
Mines in the United States, and The University of British
Columbia and Capilano College in Canada.
He holds degrees in Mining Engineering, Mineral Technology and Metallurgical Engineering, and has taught at The Colorado School of Mines, and The University of Alberta.
With thirty-three years of experience in international mining, he has participated in a large number of projects involving environmental assessment and remediation, metallurgical process development, process plant design, and project financial and economic assessment.
His practice as a Consulting Environmental and Mineral Processing Engineer is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, specializing in the prediction, assessment and remediation of Acid Rock Drainage (ARD), aqueous metal transport, and the technical interpretation of environmental law in project permitting. Recent assignments in these areas, for various clients, have included Britannia, Huckleberry, Nickel Plate and Tulsequah Chief in British Columbia, Brewery Creek, Minto, United Keno Hill and Dublin Gulch in the Yukon Territory, Ekati (BHP Diamonds), Diavik Diamond Mines, Winspear Snap Lake (diamonds) and Colomac in the Northwest Territories, and Voisey's Bay Nickel in Newfoundland.
At The Colorado School of Mines Chris
focussed on the surface chemistry of ultrafine mineral particles,
and subsequently developed expertise in the processing and
treatment of metallic oxide mineral slimes and clays. From 1983
to 1986 this expertise was utilized in the development of process
technology for the recovery of values from the Thor Lake
tantalum/columbium/beryllium deposits in the Northwest
Territories. This project, and work with Tantalum
Mining Corporation of Canada at Bernic Lake in Manitoba,
also required advanced mineralogical evaluation skills acquired
at The Colorado School of Mines, and developed during a term with
ASARCO Central Research in the United States
(where Chris worked on the Lakehurst, Mission,
Waterloo, Minto and other
projects).
In recent years he has applied his experience and expertise in mine water chemistry, geochemistry, mineralogy and chemical process technology to the assessment of ARD.
Current and past
clients include mining companies, consulting engineering
companies, First Nations, law firms, banks, the 
United Nations, and variety of
government and independent agencies. Chris chaired Working Group
6 (British Columbia and Yukon Territory) for Environment Canada
in the review of the Metal Mine Liquid Effluent Regulations
(MMLER) and advised the B.C. Ministry of Employment and
Investment, Energy and Minerals Division on the Metal Leaching
and ARD Policy and Guidelines. He was a Consultant to the
Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency for the BHP Diamonds
Ekati Mine at Lac de Gras in the Northwest Territories), and one
of the Consultants advising the Acid Drainage Technology
Initiative (ADTI).
He is the co-author of a textbook, and the author of numerous technical papers and reports on various aspects of the mineral industry.
Chris is a Registered Professional Engineer in the Province of British Columbia, and offers the following specialized services on a consulting basis:
Planning and supervision of ARD prediction testwork programs
Facilities for ARD and petrographic/mineragraphic testwork may be readily arranged with laboratories in the Vancouver area with extensive ARD experience.
For more information, please contact Bruce Downing at at downing@gamah.com
MOST RECENT UPDATE: 20/Jan/99 03:54 PM
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