Tailings Center Selects First Director

The Tailings Center, a research and educational collaboration between Colorado State University, the Colorado School of Mines, and the University of Arizona, recently named Michael Henderson as its first director.

Henderson, a research professor in the Mining Engineering Department at Mines, will lead the day-to-day operations of the center, while three site directors will oversee participation from the three affiliated universities. Among these site directors is Jaeheon Lee, associate MGE professor. 

The center was launched in June 2020 with mission to "improve professional and academic education opportunities, and to conduct research and technology development," in order to advance the best practices for tailings — the material left over after separating out the valuable materials in mining.

“The tailings industry is undergoing a generational watershed event, where there is full alignment across the globe to improve the planning, design, operation and closure of tailings facilities with an emphasis on reducing the risk of failure,” Henderson said. “The Tailings Center and other similar university and research groups are meeting the immediate challenge of expanding the pool of qualified tailings engineers through dramatically expanded opportunities for education and training, and I am excited to serve as the first director of this joint initiative of Mines, CSU and UArizona, a uniquely suited cohort for taking this leading role in recruiting and training future tailings engineers.”