kai koosmen

Kai Koosmen is a Principal Geotechnical Engineer at PSM with over 13 years of experience. The majority of Kai’s work is on the design, operation and risk management for open pit mining operations, waste rock dumps and tailings storage facilities. 

Kai started his career working in mine operations and study-based roles for a major mining house, joining PSM in 2016 after undertaking his PhD research. Kai has worked on numerous mining and quarrying projects that span multiple commodities of varying geological and technical complexity. He currently serves as an external geotechnical advisor for several large open pit mines within Australia and has had significant involvement on major international projects, including Ok Tedi (PNG), Lihir (PNG), Cerrejon (Colombia), Ban Houyaxai and Phu Kham (Laos). These roles have included deployments into site-based operations teams and major design studies. 

Kai has a keen interest in soil and rock mechanics and the extrapolation of observed behaviours from laboratory testing to full scale engineering problems. He also enjoys working in active mining environments where he has the opportunity to use geological observations and monitoring data to refine geotechnical models and interpret slope/dump/embankment performance.

Kai is an active participant in the professional development space. He is a regular author and co-author of conference papers on various topics, has supervised several in soil and rock mechanics from undergraduate to PhD level, and guest lectures at the University of Queensland.

Kai is a member of the Australian Geomechanics Society (AGS), Mine Subsidence Technological Society (MSTS), AUSIMM, and holds RPEQ status with the BPEQ.  He has also been a key member of research teams for several industry funded research projects investigating co-disposal of tailings in waste rock dumps, liquefaction potential of dewatered tailings and mine closure.

Fields of special competence include:

• Soils mechanics, rock mechanics and hydrogeology applied to slope design
• Laboratory testing
• Geotechnical model development
• Mine design and mine operations
• Geotechnical monitoring
• Management of slope instability
• Waste rock dumps