We have recently had several new staff join us at Cornwall Mining Consultants, one of whom is Dr Thomas Gibson who joined us as our Environmental Scientist six months ago.
Now that he has fully settled in, we sat down with him to find out why he chose to work with us and just what his job entails…..
Why did you choose to work with Cornwall Mining Consultants?
On successful completion of my PhD at Camborne School of Mines I took up a vacant position with another local company.
My interest in the legacy of historical mining was already well established and continued to grow as I spent time working professionally in the field.
As soon as I saw the Environmental Scientist role open up with Cornwall Mining Consultants I jumped at the opportunity. The role offered the chance to lead on developing a department, allowing me to work more independently whilst focussing on my main interest of land contamination associated with historical mining.
What have you learned since joining?
There is one moment that really stayed with me – it is when I first gained access to our GIS system. This is an incredible piece of bespoke in-house technology which enables us to see every recorded or suspected mining feature across the southwest.
Due to my existing experience, I knew intellectually the extent of mining in areas such as Camborne-Redruth, St Agnes and Wendron, but seeing it all displayed so clearly on one map really drove home the true scale and extent of mining features across the entire southwest. To be able to visualise it in one screen was absolutely phenomenal.
What has been your most challenging project to date and why?
I recently completed a project which involved a combined contamination and mining investigation. This soon revealed a significant amount of unexpected made ground across the site which meant that the conceptual site model and sampling strategy had to be revised as we went along, resulting in a far more complex suite of lab testing.
I had to balance ensuring additional testing suitability characterised the risk, whilst keeping costs proportionate for the client.
Unfortunately, the made ground had some of the highest arsenic levels I’ve ever seen and we are now providing ongoing advice to the client regarding disposal of the contaminated material as well as the steps required to make the site suitable for a future residential development.
What do you find the most enjoyable aspect of working with us?
We work in an open plan office which nurtures a collaborative working environment. Spending time each day where everyone feels comfortable to ask questions and discuss ideas with anyone is an absolute joy and enables us to work as a close team.
Coupled with that, I’ve been allowed great flexibility and support when needed, allowing me to work around my 1 year old daughter. Since working with Cornwall Mining Consultants, I have never felt like I’ve had to compromise work or family life. I am able, and trusted, to undertake my duties surrounded by a supportive close-knit team which is unlike anywhere else.
What do you find most rewarding and why?
I find it incredibly rewarding to work closely with individuals or small-scale developers who don’t deal with contamination or mining issues on a day-to-day basis. These opportunities enable me to guide them closley through the process, making it as straight forward for them as possible.
These instances are even better when we are able to combine our services because it means we are able to competently offer every step from desk study all the way through to remediation for both contamination and mining. Seeing a piece of work all the way from start to finish.
What are the next steps for you and do you have any aspirations for the next six months?
As department lead, the next step for me is to continue to train more of the team on the contamination side of the business, whilst we continue to grow our contamination services.
I’m also looking forward to taking some of our brilliant search team out on more site visits with me so they can actually see the features they’ve identified from documentary evidence.
Within the next six months, I’m will be working with our MD Dan Berriman to revamp our reports across the full range of contamination services and have all members of the site and search teams able to contribute towards Phase I Land Contamination Desk Studies and beyond.