Erol Yilmaz, born in Rize, Turkey, received his B.Sc. (with honors first class), Mining Engineering at the University of Istanbul in 2000. He received his M.Sc. degree in the same field from the Karadeniz Technical University (Trabzon, Turkey) in 2003 while he was working as a research assistant. In August 2004, he moved to Canada to work an international project in the URSTM laboratory of the University of Quebec at Abitibi-Temiscamingue (UQAT). He received his Ph.D. degree in the field of Environmental Sciences from the UQAT (Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec), focusing on hydro-mechanical and geotechnical properties of cemented paste backfill. He also completed a post-doctoral fellow at UQAT, focusing on physical and hydro-geochemical behaviour of surface paste disposal at Agnico Eagle’s LaRonde mine in Cadillac, Quebec. He is now working at the Cayeli Copper-Zinc Mine (Rize, Turkey) of First Quantum Minerals Ltd as paste backfill and batch plant engineer. He has more than 15 years of rich experience of industry, academia and research by focusing on mine tailings, paste systems, cemented paste backfill, surface paste disposal, underground mine backfill, mine wastes management, environmental geomechanics, rock mechanics, mining engineering, and mineral processing. He is also a member of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, and Turkish Institute of Mining Engineers since 2005 and 2000, respectively. He authored and co-authored many scientific publications, such as books, reports, and journal and conference papers. He acts as a referee for many scientific peer review journals and several international projects.