Martabe Gold Mine

Project Overview

The Martabe Gold Mine, located approximately 40 km southeast of Sibolga in North Sumatra, Indonesia, is an operating gold mine that processes 4.5 Mt of gold ore per year. Co-disposal of waste occurs with all open pit mine waste utilized in the construction of the tailings storage facility (TSF) embankment. The mine also includes a process plant, stockpiles, water treatment plant, sediment control dams, and several other facilities.

Project Role

Knight Piésold was engaged to provide specialist engineering design and construction services pertaining to the ongoing development of the TSF and expansion to 60 Mt capacity. This included extensive 3D modelling of the embankment dam using PLAXIS software to assess stability under high seismic loading conditions.

Knight Piésold worked closely with the client to redesign the TSF to increase mine waste storage capacity and thereby removes the need for a dedicated waste dump elsewhere on the site. Design support was provided during the process to re-permit the new facility configuration with the Indonesian regulators. Reports were also provided and presentations were given to the Dam Safety Committee to successfully permit an expansion in capacity from 20 to 60 Mt.

Knight Piésold provides full time on-site engineering support and quality assurance/quality control supervision for the construction of the dam, which is undertaken on a continuous basis.