Examination evidence, TSF monitoring, and miner certification — one record.
Mining operators — Newmont, Barrick, Freeport-McMoRan, BHP, Rio Tinto, Vale, Anglo American, Glencore — run heavy haulage, processing, and ventilation equipment under jurisdiction-specific regulatory regimes. In the US: MSHA 30 CFR Parts 56 / 57 (metal/non-metal — surface and underground), 75 / 77 (coal), with workplace examinations under §56.18002 / §57.18002 (metal/non-metal, single-pass) or §75.360 / 75.362 / 75.364 (coal pre-shift, on-shift, weekly). Part 48 (underground) and Part 46 (surface) govern miner training. In Australia: state WHS Acts plus the RIIRIS Standard 11 training framework. In Brazil: ANM regulations under the post-Brumadinho dam safety framework. In Chile: SERNAGEOMIN. Across jurisdictions: ICMM Performance Expectations and the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) — with ANCOLD layered on Australian TSFs. ISO 17757 governs autonomous mining safety. Wēlr is the miner-certification matrix plus the workplace-examination record plus the TSF-instrumentation continuous record on the same substrate — across jurisdictions.
Four pains across the pit and the tailings facility.
- 01
Miner training and certification matrix at the dispatch gate tracked by spreadsheet.
US: Part 48 (underground) / Part 46 (surface) initial 24-hour training, 8-hour annual refresher, task training, certified person designations (workplace examiner under §56.18002 / §57.18002 for metal/non-metal; pre-shift examiner under §75.360 for coal; shift boss / shifter / supervisor for metal/non-metal; mine foreman for coal), equipment-specific licensing. Australia: RIIRIS Standard 11 modules. Gold operators: ICMI International Cyanide Management Code custody-of-care training. Plus drug & alcohol cycle and site-specific inductions — tracked per miner on a spreadsheet rebuilt before every regulator inspection.
- 02
Examination evidence is fragmented across CMMS, LMS, exam app, and safety-observation system.
Tier 1 operators (BHP, Rio, Newmont, Anglo, Freeport) have moved most workplace examinations to tablet apps — but the audit trail breaks at shift handover, where the noted hazard in the exam app becomes a work order in the CMMS, the corrective training closure lives in the LMS, and the safety-observation system runs in parallel. Continuity from noted hazard → work order → closure → trend evidence is rebuilt by hand. (Mid-tier operators still run handwritten exam books; the same trail-continuity problem plus the digitization step.)
- 03
TSF instrumentation read on a calendar; GISTM expects continuous, RTFE-governed.
Tailings storage facility piezometers, inclinometers, settlement monuments, seepage flow weirs, and crest monitoring are read on a schedule (often weekly or monthly). GISTM Conformance Protocol expects continuous monitoring with Trigger Action Response Plans (TARPs) governed by the Responsible Tailings Facility Engineer (RTFE) — a named-role most operators are still standing up — with the Engineer of Record (EoR) on the dispatch path and the Independent Tailings Review Board (ITRB) providing periodic governance oversight. The schedule-vs-continuous gap and the RTFE / EoR / ITRB governance separation are both GISTM audit findings.
- 04
Citation response collects evidence from five systems — and §110(c) and POV risk multiplies the dollars.
An MSHA citation cuts an abatement period (termination time fixed under Section 104(a), or immediate withdrawal under Section 107(a)). §104(d) unwarrantable failure citations chain into Pattern of Violations (POV) risk; §110(c) individual liability lands on named agents — COO, mine manager, foreman. Evidence is collected from CMMS, examination apps, training records (Part 48 / 46), ventilation plan, equipment-service record — for every citation, under deadline pressure.
Four primitives. One MSHA + GISTM-aligned record.
Miner cert matrix on the dispatch gate (jurisdiction-aware)
Part 48 / 46 training completion (24-hour initial · 8-hour annual refresher · task training), certified person designations (workplace examiner per §56.18002 / §57.18002 · shift boss / supervisor for metal/non-metal · mine foreman / pre-shift examiner per §75.360 for coal · equipment-specific licensing), Standard 11 modules where Australian, ICMI cyanide custody-of-care for gold, site-specific inductions — first-class miner attributes per jurisdiction. Dispatch fails closed when training is overdue or the miner isn't certified for the task class at the work-site.
Examination evidence with trail-continuity — exam → work order → closure → trend
Workplace examinations under §56.18002 / §57.18002 (metal/non-metal, single-pass) or §75.360 / 75.362 / 75.364 (coal pre-shift / on-shift / weekly) captured on offline-capable tablets — and the noted hazard, the work order that closes it, the corrective training closure, and the trend evidence all live on one record. Shift handover becomes a state, not a system handoff.
TSF instrumentation continuous record with RTFE governance
Piezometric pressure, inclinometer deformation, seepage flow, settlement monuments, and crest monitoring stream into an append-only record per facility under RTFE accountability. TARP Level 1 (within bounds — monitor) and Level 2 (engineer review — EoR dispatched, elevated monitoring activated) drive the operational response; Level 3 (action / evacuation) is the ITRB-notification trigger. The ITRB sees Level 1 / 2 in the next periodic trend report unless escalation persists.
Citation-response export packet (§104(a) · §104(d) · §107(a) · §110(c))
MSHA citation cuts an export builder that produces the response packet from one record — examination history, training records, equipment-service evidence, ventilation plan extracts — assembled inside the abatement period. §104(d) unwarrantable-failure sequences and Pattern of Violations exposure are tracked continuously; §110(c) individual-liability artifacts are scoped per named agent.
Why not extend the CMMS / examination-book / training-LMS stack you already run?
Most mining operators run paper examination books at the pit and in underground sections, a CMMS for work orders, a separate LMS for Part 48 / 46 training, an EAM for fleet, and a manual TSF monitoring schedule. Five systems, five audit trails — and the MSHA inspection is the project.
| Capability | Wēlr | Paper books + CMMS + LMS | Generic mining-EAM stack Mincom Ellipse · IBM Maximo + LMS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miner cert matrix on dispatch (Part 48/46 + certified-person) | Fails closed at dispatch | Spreadsheet matrix | LMS bolt-on, not at dispatch |
| Pre-shift / on-shift examinations (Parts 75.360 / 56.18002) | Offline tablet · syncs to FRA-style record | Handwritten books | EAM module · disconnected |
| TSF continuous record with TARP / ITRB | Continuous, GISTM-aligned | Calendar-checked | SCADA-only |
| Citation response packet (Section 104(a) abatement window) | Query, pre-assembled | Multi-system collection under deadline | Multi-system collection |
| ICMM Performance Expectations evidence as a query | Structural | Multi-week reconstruction | Multi-week reconstruction |
TSF instrumentation, continuous — TARP-driven EoR dispatch.
When the Responsible Tailings Facility Engineer reviews Facility T-14, they want the GISTM Conformance Protocol evidence — piezometric pressure, inclinometer deformation, seepage flow, settlement monuments — continuous, with TARP thresholds enforced and the named-role governance chain (RTFE → EoR → ITRB) visible. PZ-18 hits Level 2 with a +0.4 m / 24h trend; the Engineer of Record is dispatched and elevated monitoring activates. The ITRB sees the event in the next periodic trend report; Level 3 would be the ITRB-notification trigger. The MSHA inspector reading the same record sees the dispatch was matched to a credentialed miner with current Part 48 / 46 training and §56.18002 workplace-examiner authority.
- Piezometers, inclinometers, settlement monuments, seepage weirs, crest monitoring — all on append-only record per facility, under RTFE accountability
- TARP Level 1 (monitor) and Level 2 (EoR dispatched, elevated monitoring) drive operational response · Level 3 escalates to ITRB notification
- SCADA telemetry + manual instrument readings reconciled continuously · GISTM Conformance Protocol-aligned · ANCOLD-compatible for Australian TSFs
- Mining-side citation response uses the same record · §104(a) / §104(d) / §107(a) abatement-window packets are queries
If any of these are true, we should talk.
- ✓Your miner cert matrix (Part 48 / 46 training, jurisdiction-specific certified-person designations under §56.18002 / §75.360, Standard 11 for AU, ICMI cyanide for gold) is tracked on a spreadsheet, and credential gaps surface at the dispatch gate.
- ✓Your workplace examinations (single-pass under §56.18002 / §57.18002 for metal/non-metal, or pre-shift / on-shift / weekly under §75.360 / 75.362 / 75.364 for coal) live in an exam app, but the trail from noted hazard → work order → closure → trend evidence breaks at shift handover.
- ✓Your TSF instrumentation is read on a weekly or monthly schedule, and your RTFE / EoR / ITRB governance chain isn't visible as a named-role record on the same data as the readings.
- ✓An MSHA citation in the last cycle required evidence assembly from CMMS, examination apps, training records, ventilation plans, and equipment-service records — under abatement-period pressure, with §104(d) unwarrantable-failure or POV exposure compounding the cost.
- ✓A §110(c) individual-liability action, an ITRB audit finding, or an ICMM Performance Expectations review surfaced gaps in continuous TSF evidence, TARP execution, or cross-facility data integrity in the last cycle.
A small founding cohort is shaping Wēlr for mining operators.
Founding partners get preferential pricing, a direct line to engineering, and meaningful influence over the Mining roadmap. Limited to a small cohort per vertical.
- Preferential pricing
- Direct line to engineering
- Roadmap influence
- Limited cohort
Ready to stop stitching service evidence together?
If your team is juggling PDFs, support packages, work orders, customer updates, and QA evidence across five systems, Wēlr is worth a look.
Welr LLC · Delaware