Robert Cooke
Consultant @Paterson & Cooke
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WORK HISTORY
Consultant @Paterson & Cooke
Denver, CO, US
Since founding Paterson & Cooke in South Africa in 1991, I have been privileged to enjoy several leadership roles within the company. In 2007, I moved to Denver to start Paterson & Cooke’s North American operations. From 2016, with the formalization of Paterson & Cooke’s Employee Share Plan, in addition to various director positions and the President of Paterson & Cooke North America, I chaired Paterson & Cooke’s main board based in the United Kingdom. At the end of 2024, I resigned all formal company positions in anticipation of my retirement from full-time employment with Paterson & Cooke on 31 March 2025.I am currently, and will continue to be post my retirement, engaged as a consultant supporting primarily tailings and slurry pipeline projects.I will also continue with key industry projects; these include chairing the Technical Work Group of BHP and Rio Tinto’s Tailings Management Consortium, serving on the Quellaveco Tailings Review Panel, and teaching the GIW slurry course.My passion and energy for supporting the development and implementation of safer tailings management systems and effective slurry transport systems has not dimmed. I am interested in supporting projects in these areas, particularly technical and investment reviews, tailings review boards, teaching assignments, and the development of the next generation of engineers.
EDUCATION
University of Cape Town
BSc Civil Eng
University of Cape Town
MSc Eng
University of Cape Town
PhD
SKILLS
ABOUT ROBERT COOKE
Since founding Paterson & Cooke in South Africa in 1991, I was privileged to enjoy several leadership roles within the company. In 2007, I moved to Denver to start Paterson & Cooke’s North American operations. From 2016, with the formalization of Paterson & Cooke’s Employee Share Plan, in addition to various director positions and the President of Paterson & Cooke North America, I chaired Paterson & Cooke’s main board based in the United Kingdom. At the end of 2024, I resigned all formal company positions in anticipation of my retirement from full-time employment with P&C in March 2025.I am engaged with P&C as a consultant supporting primarily technical reviews of tailings and slurry pipeline projects. I am also a member of the independent tailings review boards for Anglo American’s Quellaveco mine in Peru and Antofagasta Minerals’ mines in Chile.I chaired the Technical Working Group of BHP and Rio Tinto’s Tailings Management Consortium from 2022 to 2025 which has the mission of accelerating the development of novel tailings solutions to reduce risk of catastrophic tailings facility failure. I continue to support the Consortium’s activities.I am a member of the teaching staff for the annual GIW slurry course presented in Augusta, Georgia.I am proud to support and mentor the careers of several people in industry leadership roles. I also serve as an Advisory Board Member for the University of Toronto’s Entrepreneurship Hatchery program which mentors start-up technology companies.In 2023 I was honored to receive the SME Mineral Processing Division’s A.C. Daman Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of “lifetime achievement in the mining industry”. I authored two chapters of the SME Handbook of Tailings Management published in 2022. From March 2026, I will serve on the SME’s Strategic Committee for Responsible Mining and Underground Construction.My passion and energy for supporting the development and implementation of safer tailings management systems and effective slurry transport systems have not dimmed. I am interested in supporting projects in these areas, particularly technical and investment reviews, tailings review boards, teaching assignments while continuing to mentor development of the next generation of engineers, leaders, and entrepreneurs.
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