Bradley Jay Ross
- Professor of Practice
- Director, Geotechnical Center for Excellence
- Member of the Graduate Faculty
- (520) 621-6080
- Mines And Metallurgy, Rm. 209
- Tucson, AZ 85721
- bjr@arizona.edu
Biography
Dr. Brad Ross is the Co-Director of the Geotechnical Center of Excellence at the University of Arizona. This center is dedicated to multi-disciplinary research and academics related to geotechnical issues in the mining industry. He is also a Professor of Practice in the Mining and Geological Engineering Department.
Brad is a Professional Mining Engineer with over 35 years of experience in the mining industry. For his last industry position, he was brought into Bingham Canyon Mine to help the mine prepare for and recover from the gigantic Manefay slope failure. He has written a book about this experience called “Rise to the Occasion – Lessons From the Bingham Canyon Manefay Slide”.
Degrees
- Ph.D. Mining, Geological and Geophysical Engineering
- University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States
- Artisanal mining in Namibia — Understanding the cycle of poverty and the impact of selling collector minerals in the local marketplace
- Masters of Engineering Mining Engineering
- University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States
- B.S. Mining Engineering
- South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota, United States
Work Experience
- Geotechnical Center of Excellence (2018 - Ongoing)
- Mining and Geological Engineering Department (2017 - Ongoing)
- Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources (2017 - 2018)
- 90 Degree Consulting LLC (2015 - Ongoing)
- Rio Tinto - Kennecott Utah Copper (2014 - 2015)
- Rio Tinto - Kennecott Utah Copper (2013 - 2014)
- Rio Tinto – Resolution Copper Mining (2012 - 2013)
- Rio Tinto – Resolution Copper Mining (2006 - 2013)
- Rio Tinto - Rössing Uranium Limited (2004 - 2006)
- Rio Tinto - Rössing Uranium Limited (2003 - 2004)
Awards
- SME Henry Krumb Lecturer
- SME, Fall 2017
Licensure & Certification
- Professional Engineer, Arizona State Board of Registration (2008)
Interests
Research
Geotechnical Engineering, Safety, Leadership
Teaching
Geotechnical Engineering, Sustainable Development, Mining Engineering, Senior Capstone
Courses
2022-23 Courses
-
Directed Research
MNE 592 (Spring 2023) -
Dissertation
MNE 920 (Spring 2023) -
Geotechnical Radar Monitoring
MNE 428 (Spring 2023) -
Geotechnical Radar Monitoring
MNE 528 (Spring 2023) -
Honors Thesis
MNE 498H (Spring 2023) -
Senior Capstone
MNE 498 (Spring 2023) -
Dissertation
MNE 920 (Fall 2022) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
ENGR 422 (Fall 2022) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
MNE 422 (Fall 2022) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
MNE 522 (Fall 2022) -
Honors Thesis
MNE 498H (Fall 2022) -
Senior Capstone
MNE 498 (Fall 2022)
2021-22 Courses
-
Geotechnical Radar Monitoring
MNE 428 (Spring 2022) -
Geotechnical Radar Monitoring
MNE 528 (Spring 2022) -
Honors Thesis
MNE 498H (Spring 2022) -
Senior Capstone
MNE 498 (Spring 2022) -
Dissertation
MNE 920 (Fall 2021) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
ENGR 422 (Fall 2021) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
ENGR 522 (Fall 2021) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
MNE 422 (Fall 2021) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
MNE 522 (Fall 2021) -
Honors Thesis
MNE 498H (Fall 2021) -
Senior Capstone
MNE 498 (Fall 2021) -
Thesis
MNE 910 (Fall 2021)
2020-21 Courses
-
Directed Research
MNE 592 (Spring 2021) -
Directed Research/Mn E
MNE 492 (Spring 2021) -
Dissertation
MNE 920 (Spring 2021) -
Senior Capstone
MNE 498 (Spring 2021) -
Thesis
MNE 910 (Spring 2021) -
Dissertation
MNE 920 (Fall 2020) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
ENGR 422 (Fall 2020) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
ENGR 522 (Fall 2020) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
MNE 422 (Fall 2020) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
MNE 522 (Fall 2020) -
Independent Study
MNE 599 (Fall 2020) -
Senior Capstone
MNE 498 (Fall 2020) -
Senior Design Projects I
SIE 498A (Fall 2020)
2019-20 Courses
-
Dissertation
MNE 920 (Spring 2020) -
Senior Capstone
MNE 498 (Spring 2020) -
Dissertation
MNE 920 (Fall 2019) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
ENGR 422 (Fall 2019) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
MNE 422 (Fall 2019) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
MNE 522 (Fall 2019) -
Senior Capstone
MNE 498 (Fall 2019)
2018-19 Courses
-
Independent Study
MNE 699 (Spring 2019) -
Senior Capstone
MNE 498 (Spring 2019) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
ENGR 422 (Fall 2018) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
MNE 422 (Fall 2018) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
MNE 522 (Fall 2018) -
Honors Thesis
MNE 498H (Fall 2018) -
Independent Study
MNE 499 (Fall 2018) -
Independent Study
MNE 599 (Fall 2018) -
Senior Capstone
MNE 498 (Fall 2018)
2017-18 Courses
-
Intro to International Mining
LAW 640G (Summer I 2018) -
Senior Capstone
MNE 498 (Spring 2018) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
ENGR 422 (Fall 2017) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
MNE 422 (Fall 2017) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
MNE 522 (Fall 2017) -
Honors Thesis
MNE 498H (Fall 2017) -
Independent Study
MNE 599 (Fall 2017) -
Senior Capstone
MNE 498 (Fall 2017)
2016-17 Courses
-
Intro to International Mining
LAW 640G (Summer I 2017) -
Acqst+Fin Mineral Prjct
MNE 697G (Spring 2017) -
Appl Val Mnrl Assts+Prjt
MNE 697F (Spring 2017) -
Mdrn Corp Org Minerl Ind
MNE 697B (Spring 2017) -
Senior Capstone
MNE 498 (Spring 2017) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
ENGR 422 (Fall 2016) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
MNE 422 (Fall 2016) -
Engr Sustainable Dev
MNE 522 (Fall 2016) -
Senior Capstone
MNE 498 (Fall 2016)
Scholarly Contributions
Books
- Ross, B. J. (2017). Rise to the Occasion – Lessons from the Bingham Canyon Manefay Slide. Denver: SME.More infoRise to the Occasion tells the dramatic story of the men and women who safely led Utah’s 107-year-old Bingham Canyon Mine through the largest mining highwall failure in history. The Manefay failure resulted in 144.4 million tons of rock plummeting more than 2,000 feet and traveling 1.5 miles within 90 seconds—without a single death or injury. The story is told through the eyes of an insider, as the author was brought into the mine just six short weeks before the failure and was a key member of the management team.Illustrated with 160 full-color aerial and ground photos, charts, and illustrations, Rise to the Occasion details the unfolding events of the preparation, failure, and recovery efforts in moment-by-moment accounts. The author then leads the reader to valuable lessons that were learned and how to apply these lessons to any organization that faces risks.The reader will learn to manage a crisis or normal operations by:• Understanding, measuring, and acting on the greatest risks facing the organization.• Creating a culture, based on communication, that inspires dedication, trust, and success.• Wearing a “Black Hat” to challenge thinking that can blind an organization.• Setting “impossible” goals that will not only be met but exceeded.• Breaking down silos to improve teamwork and solve problems.• Reducing bureaucracy and empowering people to increase innovation and expedite solutions.• Using independent experts to provide different points of view and audit the processes.
Journals/Publications
- Zebker, M., Williams, C., Ross, B., Robotham, M., Morkeh, J., Leighton, J., & Gaida, M. (2021). Assessment of the Available Historic RADARSAT-2 Synthetic Aperture Radar Data Prior to the Manefay Slide at the Bingham Canyon Mine Using Modern InSAR Techniques. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 54(7), 3469-3489. doi:10.1007/s00603-021-02483-2
Proceedings Publications
- Ross, B. J., Williams, C. P., Wellman, E. C., & Schafer, K. W. (2022, June). Thermal Imaging for Rockfall Detection. In 56th U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, 7.
- Ross, B. J. (2018, February). Lessons from the Bingham Canyon slide - monitoring methods. In University of Minnesota 66th Annual Geotechnical Engineering Conference, 57-65.
Presentations
- Ross, B. J., Burgess, J. L., Granillo, A. B., & Williams, . C. (2020, February). Sharing Critical Controls. SME National Conference. Denver: SME.More infoPresentation and paper update on NIOSH research on sharing critical controls.
- Ross, B. J. (2018, February). Creating a Geotechnical Center of Excellence. SME National Conference. Minneapolis, Minnesota: SME.More infoPart of building Geotechnical Center of ExcellenceLarge geotechnical events have had a tremendous cost in terms of the loss of lives, billions of dollars in damage as well as significant legal and reputational impacts. In addition to these large events, every day operations are further impacted and geotechnical failures damage equipment, impact production and continues to injure or kill people all too frequently. But as expensive as geotechnical events are, we still hear that geotechnical analysis are more of an art than a science. We also know that our operations are getting larger, deeper and more complex, yet we still rely on many empirical solutions developed decades ago. This paper discusses the creation of a Geotechnical Center of Excellence (GCE) at the University of Arizona. This center will be stakeholder driven and utilize the strength and capabilities of multiple departments across the university to solve critical and difficult geotechnical problems through applied and basic research. The GCE will also help increase geotechnical knowledge and understanding through the development of training modules that can used for university and continuing education classes.
- Ross, B. J. (2018, February). Sharing Critical Controls Through Social Media. SME National Conference. Minneapolis, Minnesota: SME.More infoPart of NIOSH Grant - The way that people communicate has changed significantly the past several years. Instead of books, trade magazines, conferences, and courses to share knowledge and ideas many people rely on the internet and particularly social media to be their primary source of information. This paper discusses the use of LinkedIn as an outlet to share information such as critical safety and health controls to a wide international audience quickly and effectively. This method has a tremendous advantage in it reach an audience that in many cases would have never been aware of a fact, issue, or solution but it also has disadvantages in there is less control on the accuracy of the content or the ability to easily retrieve an article when doing a search in the future. I addition to the pros and cons this article will discuss some method to make you Linked in more effective from an author that has written a book and several popular mining related LinkedIn articles on sharing health and safety critical control measures and leadership learned from the massive Manefay landslide at Bingham Canyon.
- Ross, B. J. (2018, February). Sharing Safety Critical Control Measures – Bingham Canyon Case Study. SME National Conference. Minneapolis, Minnesota: SME.More infoPart of NIOSH GrantSharing Safety Critical Control Measures – Bingham Canyon Case StudyAbstract: All mining operations gain important safety and health learnings during the process of mining, sometimes at a high price in lives lost or significant injury. Applying these learnings is one of the key first steps to identifying the material unwanted events (MUE’s) when using ICMM’s Critical Control Management (CCM) method to prevent serious events. The CMM method relies on companies being able to identify MUE’s as well as ways to control them – even if they have not previously occurred at a site or operation. Unfortunately, many companies are hesitant to share their experiences because of risk of legal or financial ramifications.This paper discusses the benefits of sharing health and safety experiences and learnings across the industry to improve the CCM process for all companies. This paper uses Bingham Canyon’s Manefay failure as an example of how critical control learnings have been shared and discusses how the industry has benefited. It then proposes a method for companies to share safety information without posing a risk legal risk to the company.
- Ross, B. J. (2017, February). Innovation in Recovering from the World’s Largest Mining Landslide. SME National Conference. Denver, Colorado: SME.More infoAfter experiencing the largest mining landslide in the world in April of 2013, Rio Tinto Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon Mine was left with thousands of feet of scarps that towered over 600 feet, no access for large equipment in the mine because the main haulroad was destroyed and limited ore because debris had covered more than half of what had previously been exposed. To recover from these issues many innovations were employed or developed with the help of employees, vendors and contractors to return the mine to full production. This paper is based on the new book, Rising to the Occasion – Lessons from the Bingham Canyon Manefay Slide and describes some of those innovations and how they were implemented both quickly and safely.
- Ross, B. J. (2017, February). Leadership During Times of Crisis. SME National Conference. Denver, Colorado: SME.More infoLeadership is always critical for organizations – but especially when that organization is in a crisis situation. This paper, which is based on the new book, Rising to the Occasion – Lessons from the Bingham Canyon Manefay Slide, describes some of the methods used by the leadership at Rio Tinto Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon Mine to prepare for and recover from the largest mining landslide in history. These methods were essential in keeping people safe and returning the mine to production much faster than just about anyone thought possible – and are applicable to everyday operations.
- Ross, B. J. (2017, February). Learning from the Manefay Highwall Failure. SME National Conference. Denver, Colorado: SME.More infoThe Manefay highwall failure at Rio Tinto Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon Mine was significantly larger and had a very different failure mechanism than any failure the mine had experienced in its 107-year history. This failure forced the mine personnel to look at potential highwall failures differently that it had in the past. This paper, which is based on the new book, Rising to the Occasion – Lessons from the Bingham Canyon Manefay Slide describes how the knowledge gained from the Manefay was used to identify and prevent a second potential failure that could have been even more devastating than the Manefay itself.
- Ross, B. J. (2017, February). Why The Bingham Canyon Manefay Landslide Failed. SME National Conference. Denver, Colorado: SME.More infoOn April 10th 2013, the Rio Tinto Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon Mine experienced the largest highwall failure in mining history when 144 million tons of material fell into the historic pit. This paper, which is based on the new book, Rising to the Occasion – Lessons from the Bingham Canyon Manefay Slide, describes the geologic conditions, sequence of events, and the failure mechanism that led to this gigantic event. This paper will also detail some of the geotechnical monitoring used to predict the failure that was critical in preventing injuries or fatalities.