Meet Our People: Peter Saunders, Head of Geotechnical

What is your name?

My name is Peter Saunders.

Can you tell us about yourself?

I have over 20 years of experience as a Rock Mechanics Engineer in various senior operational mining and corporate level Geotechnical roles. I lead our global team of 130+ qualified Rock Mechanics Engineers and Radar Operators who provide our remote monitoring and other geotechnical support services (GSS) worldwide.

My experience in open-cut and underground mining methods (including long-hole open-stoping, sub-level, and block cave mining) has helped to develop my skills in geotechnical risk management and monitoring strategies.

What makes your job at GroundProbe unique?

Leading a team of professionals across the globe and supporting customers with a diverse array of geotechnical challenges means I/we/GSS have a unique opportunity to learn and gain broad experience.  When things go terribly wrong, it’s usually the best opportunity to learn, but unfortunately, in mining, we don’t like talking about our mistakes. My team and I are most often the ones our customers reach out to first, as trusted advisors, to provide them with the support they need before, during, and after crisis situations involving large-scale slope collapse.  We have the benefit then of gaining a unique and comprehensive perspective, allowing us to understand very clearly what not to do, and from that, we can help to better define what should be considered as industry best practice in regard to open pit slope monitoring.

Peter.

– Peter Saunders, centre, conducting valuable GSS customer training in the Pilbara region, Western Australia.