Applied Mineralogy for Environmental Consultants

What if the minerals beneath a contaminated site held the key to more effective remediation?

Environmental consultants regularly encounter soil descriptions that go no further than “sand, silt, gravel, or clay” yet the mineralogy of those soils can be the difference between a remediation that works and one that doesn’t. Applied Mineralogy bridges the gap between mining industry analytical methods and environmental site assessment, giving practitioners a powerful new lens for understanding contaminated sites.

Join us for a 90-minute session exploring how soil mineralogy can be applied across the full lifecycle of environmental site assessment and remediation.

What You’ll Learn

• How mineral composition affects contaminant behaviour in groundwater
• How to determine the source of background metals concentrations
• Why some remedial injections underperform and what mineralogy reveals
• How physical properties of metals can be leveraged for remediation
• Simple field tests and data evaluation strategies for conceptual understanding
• Lab methods for quantifying mineral concentrations as inputs for remedial design and geochemical assessments
• Real-world case studies demonstrating the value of Applied Mineralogy for environmental consultants

Why Attend?

Soil mineralogy is an underutilized tool in the environmental consultant’s toolkit. The presence or absence of specific minerals can fundamentally shape how a site is assessed and how remediation is designed. This session will show you how analytical approaches from the mining sector can be adapted and applied to your practice, with practical, field-ready takeaways.

This session is your opportunity to:

• Build a more complete conceptual site model
• Understand unexpected remediation outcomes
• Add a mineral-informed approach to your site assessment workflow

Who Should Attend

• Environmental site assessment and remediation professionals
• Hydrogeologists and geotechnical practitioners
• Environmental consultants working with contaminated sites
• Students and early-career professionals in environmental science or geoscience

Speaker:

Jake Gossen

Jake Gossen is an environmental scientist specializing in fate and transport assessment of organic and inorganic contaminants in support of human health and ecological risk assessments and remedial design. His expertise includes aquifer characterization, geochemical modeling, and determination of background soil and groundwater concentrations. Jake has extensive experience in the design, installation, and physical and chemical performance verification of remediation systems. He brings a thorough understanding of Alberta Tier I and II Soil and Groundwater Remediation Guidelines and the British Columbia Contaminated Sites Regulation. His technical specialties include hydrogeology, aqueous geochemistry, geochemical modeling, well installation and development, aquifer testing, groundwater sampling, and analytical QA/QC.