Paste 2025
27th International Conference on Paste, Thickened and Filtered Tailings
8–10 April 2025 | Swakopmund, Namibia
Local Organising Committee
Véronique Daigle
Paste 2025 Chair
Director
Knight Piésold, South Africa
Veronique Daigle is a lead civil engineer based in Knight Piésold’s Windhoek office in Namibia. She has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering (cooperative program) from the Université de Sherbrooke, with a specialisation in environmental geotechnics and hydraulics. She is a registered professional engineer in Quebec, Canada, and in Namibia.
She has worked in Knight Piésold’s North Bay and Vancouver offices, focusing on the mining and renewable energy industries. She has also worked in Knight Piésold’s Accra office, completing a two-year transfer as part of Knight Piésold’s Global Career Development Program. She joined the Windhoek office in 2013 and her work experience has been focused on project management, mine water and waste management concept development and design, dam inspection, environmental studies, heap leach facility design, construction and post-construction phase services, and geotechnical site investigations. Veronique is a certified Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) verifier with the Mining Association of Canada and a member of both the Canadian Dam Association (CDA) and South African Committee on Large Dams (SANCOLD).
Veronique’s experience includes projects in Canada, throughout North and South America, as well as in West Africa and Southern Africa. She is fluent in French, English, and Spanish, and she is learning German.
Andrew Copeland
Technical Director – South Africa
Knight Piésold, South Africa
Andrew is a director of Knight Piésold South Africa and the technical director of mining for Knight Piésold Southern Africa. He has had extensive exposure to the international mining industry and to the full chain of mining activities and project stages.
Andrew is a technical specialist in the area of mineral residue management and has a thorough understanding of the associated infrastructure, environmental, social, and economic aspects, including paste, filtered, and thickened tailings. He has substantial experience in civil geotechnics, heap leach facilities, and mine infrastructure. Andrew has also written guidelines and standards for mine residue facilities and carried out numerous audits around the world. Andrew is the engineer of record at several tailings facilities.
Dr Talia Da Silva Burke
Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering
Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Lourens De Koning
Chief Operating Officer
Fraser Alexander, South Africa
Associate Professor Charles MacRoberts
Associate Professor
Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Charles is an associate professor of geotechnical engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering at Stellenbosch University. He has worked at the University of the Witwatersrand and Anglo American Technical Solutions. His research aims to improve design thinking by back analysis of case studies, applied reliability, and participant observation. This research is primarily applied to the characterisation and modelling of geomaterials for global stability and seepage assessments. Geosystems of particular interest are residue storage facilities and natural slopes. As a Professional engineer, Charles actively works with industry to provide current contest to his research and teaching.
Dr Angus Paterson
Director
Paterson & Cooke, South Africa
Dr Angus Paterson is the managing director of the Cape Town office of Paterson & Cooke, having founded the company together with Dr Robert Cooke in 1991. Angus completed his civil engineering degree at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, in 1984 and completed his PhD in 1991. His research work focussed on the flow behaviour of high concentration non-Newtonian backfill slurries, and this remains a core interest of his.
He is a registered professional engineer and is actively involved in engineering projects as well as providing hydraulic oversight and expertise on a wide range of slurry pipeline applications. He regularly presents courses on slurry pipeline technology and deep mine backfilling.
Andrew Vietti
Director (Owner)
Vietti Slurrytec, South Africa
Andrew is a director of Vietti Slurrytec and has a Master’s degree from the University of Natal in South Africa.
Andrew has over 30 years’ experience in the solid/liquid separation field beginning at the De Beers Consolidated Mines research and development facility (Debtech) implementing paste thickening technology throughout the group. Thereafter, Andrew co-founded Vietti Slurrytec which is a specialist de-watering metallurgical test laboratory and consulting practice. The company provides test work data on which various solid/liquid separation circuits from paste to dry stacking surface tailings disposal projects can be designed.
Vietti Slurrytec specialises in a fundamental understanding of how clay slurry colloidal behaviour influences the de-watering process. Its extensive data base encompasses most mineral types at both small and very large operational scale.
Steven Wilson
Head of Operations
Rosh Pinah Zinc, New Zealand
Steven is the head of operations for the Rosh Pinah Zinc mine in Southern Namibia. Steven has a Bachelor’s degree in mining engineering from Western Australian School of Mines, Curtin University, a Bachelor’s degree in commerce from Curtin University and a Master of Business Law from Southern Cross University. Steven is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
He started as head of operations at Rosh Pinah Zinc in May 2024 after five years as technical services manager for Khoemacau Copper Mining in Botswana. Steven’s experience also includes mines in Australia, Ghana, Indonesia, and New Zealand in technical and management roles.
Steven is working closely with the Rosh Pinah team and consultants on the construction and operational readiness of the Rosh Pinah Paste fill system for commissioning in early 2025.
Josephine Ruddle
Paste 2025 Event Manager
Australian Centre for Geomechanics