Australia-based engineering consultancy MEC Mining will soon launch a geotechnical services arm to cater for industry demand, the company has announced.

The geotechnical engineering division will be led by MEC Mining’s Technical Services and Western Australia Manager, Erin Sweeney (pictured), who is an internationally experienced Geotechnical Engineer.

MEC appointed Sweeney to open its Perth, Western Australia, branch in November last year and in that short time her team has grown from three to 11, with plans to now employ a geotechnical engineering team as well.

After discussions with clients, and through research, she recognised there was a shortage of geotechnical engineers in the market and knew clients would benefit if MEC offered the service as an in-house speciality division, the company said.

“We are really excited to launch the geotechnical engineering arm, which will complement our technical and advisory service arms,” Sweeney said. “I’d like to see us grow to be the most trusted geotechnical services brand in mining globally.

“We will be providing a one-stop-shop, as previously clients may have had to manage multiple consultants and now all trusted advisers will be working together to collaborate more effectively.

“For our clients in the mining sector, it gives them just one consultancy to go to for both their geotechnical services and mining design needs.”

MEC Mining General Manager, Christofer Catania, said MEC’s move to provide a geotechnical services arm was part of the company’s vision to provide clients a full suite of technical services.

“It’s exciting to further grow MEC’s service offerings to meet the needs of our clients,” Catania said. “Since establishing the Western Australian office in November, our team has continued to grow and it’s a trend we see continuing despite these somewhat challenging economic times.

“We see Western Australia as the front and centre of the next mining uplift, with some great projects coming online.”