PIERCE ENGINEERING provides engineering services to underground and open pit mines with a focus on rock mass characterization, geomechanical mine design analysis and third party review. Dr. Matthew E. Pierce, President, is a Professional Engineer with over 20 years of experience in the geomechanical analysis of underground and open pit mines with specific expertise in the estimation of rock mass properties and the analysis of caving and collapse potential, fragmentation, subsidence, ore recovery and infrastructure stability. He has also developed specialized numerical modelling tools for the study of rock mass response from tunnel-scale to mine-scale and from the onset of acoustic emissions through to yield, fragmentation, collapse, and gravity flow. He received his B.S. in geological engineering and his M.S. in mining engineering from Queen’s University in Canada, and his Ph.D. in mining engineering from the University of Queensland in Australia.