Slope Stability Symposium Highlights UArizona’s Geotechnical Expertise

A spotlight was cast on how the University of Arizona’s Geotechnical Center of Excellence fosters connections, research and outreach when more than 600 researchers, mining professionals, industry experts and academics from 24 countries converged on Tucson for the biennial International Slope Stability Symposium

GCE hosted the Oct. 17-21, 2022, global conference on slope design, maintenance and monitoring for open pit mines. This event brought a return to in-person activities since COVID-19 disruptions pushed the 2020 affair scheduled in Australia to a virtual meeting in 2021. It’s also the first U.S. gathering for the long-time meeting.

Regular event participants wanted a symposium in Tucson because of UArizona’s expertise in solving difficult mining geotechnical problems, as well as access to several area mines. “We have developed an international reputation in a very short period of time,” GCE Co-director Brad Ross says. “We are widely recognized.”

The Geotechnical Center of Excellence uses UArizona’s research and academic resources to collaborate with mining companies and other stakeholders in addressing challenges they face in mining-related geotechnical, or soil and rock, issues. It was created in 2018 as a program of UArizona’s Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources and now is under the School for Mining and Mineral Resources.

Symposium create connections, improve safety

With a larger crowd compared to the last in-person event in Spain in 2018, the three days of technical presentations, case studies and insights into trends were well received. “It’s very specialized, so we’re having very good contacts here,” offers Jefferson Royer, chief business development officer of Intelltech, a Brazilian-based slope monitoring technology firm. “All the people we meet are very important for our business.”

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GCE Co-director Julia Potter says she’s heard a lot of good feedback. “The verbal reviews were incredibly positive,” she says. At least four companies expressed interest in becoming new GCE members.

Experts from around the world shared products, research and practices that aim to make mining slopes safer for mine workers and for the surrounding environment. Open pit mines create slopes as the operation digs into the earth.

Among the presentations was GCE’s update on research on the use of thermal imaging to detect rockfall in open pit mines, a serious hazard. The project’s Mobile Monitoring Platform display at the symposium drew interest as a tool to keep miners safe.

GCE led the planning for the symposium with the help of Karma-Link Management Services and international committees of some 100 industry experts. For the resumption of the in-person conference, more social events were baked into this version so that attendees could reconnect with colleagues and meet new people.

Future mining engineers get support

Several activities focused on students. Women in Mining hosted its first golf tournament associated with the symposium and raised $15,000 for its scholarship program, twice the annual amount. Symposium sponsors paid for student registration fees.

Student outreach was addressed in the panel “Engaging the Next Generation of Geotechnical Professionals.” Mining, geological and geotechnical engineering are less well known than other disciplines, such as civil, chemical and computer engineering, the panel agreed.

Jake Bedlington, a senior at the UArizona Mining and Geological Engineering Department, suggested encouraging students in other engineering disciplines to consider mining careers. “We can take what you know,” he said, “and apply it in a way to make you useful and a benefit to our industry.”

Negative perceptions of environmental effects of mining may affect student career choices. Actually, mining engineers “are on the front lines” of contributing to green energy solutions, said Erik Eberhardt, director of geological engineering at University of British Columbia.