Q&A with Gregory More O’Ferrall
NAME
Greg More O’Ferrall
TITLE
Independent Rock Engineering Consultant
QUALIFICATIONS
BSc Mining Engineering,
MSc Mining Engineering (Rock Mechanics specialisation)
Every month Friction puts 10 questions to a member of the industry to learn more about their career path and views. This month we put Canadian independent rock engineering consultant Gregory More O’Ferrall in the spotlight.
To nominate someone, or yourself, to be featured in a future edition of Friction contact us.
What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?
To see what it holds for me. I appreciate meeting people and listening to their life’s perspective/perception (I don’t encourage or enjoy negative conversation), learning new life lessons and embracing every minute of every day.
I enjoy spending time with my wife, Gale, and children (when I get to see or speak to them), and having the opportunity to take my dog for a walk/swim.
Why did you choose your current career and how did you get to your current position?
I was intrigued by the applications of rock mechanics during my BSc Mining degree. I was fortunate enough to be lectured by persons who had previous Rock Engineering operational experience (Alan Naismith, Prof. Budavari and Prof. Ozbay; Alan having the most impact).
I had extremely good basic rock engineering training within Anglo American, and then pursued a more fulfilling career in rock engineering with Lonmin Platinum. During this time, I got involved with the South African National Institute for Rock Engineering (SANIRE) branch and council activities, as well as industry-related rock engineering and mining engineering research.
Over the past 13 years I’ve been between operations and consulting. The consulting afforded me the opportunity to travel, meet persons from diversified cultures and education (learning methods that they use to conduct rock engineering design), get exposure to various commodities and mining methods, as well as share my experience with those willing to lend me an ear. I generally get back into operations where a requirement for my experience is identified by hiring technical managers. These operational roles are generally twofold; to mentor the existing rock/geotechnical engineers and to lead the rock/geotechnical engineering discipline in their service provision to the operations.
What is your favourite part of your job?
Discussing technical ideas with the technical personnel, and encouraging them to “listen to the rock” and develop solutions to the rock engineering challenges, from first principles. Sometimes these solutions are developed within brainstorming sessions, which is inspiring, as it involves more than two persons’ providing insight into potential solutions.
“Listen to the rock, it is telling you a story.”
What do you find most challenging about your role?
To encourage rock/geotechnical engineers to think like “engineers”, instead of blindly following empirical solutions (which do have their place within the discipline, yet may not be the appropriate methodology to use).
I try to discover alternate solutions that involve visioning how the rock mass may want to behave/perform, and then seek solutions to manage this behaviour/performance. Fortunately, I have a diversified professional network that is able to assist me in discussing ideas and developing potential solutions.
What is one thing you would like to change about the mining and geotechnics industry?
The education and career path development of new entrants into the career-long journey within the rock/geotechnical engineering discipline. Universities generally give rock mechanics exposure to graduates, but do not highlight the fact that this does not imply that they are competent to practice as rock/geotechnical engineers upon graduation. They will only commence learning once they get into an operation. I’ve found that newcomers into the discipline want to model “everything”, without having an idea of how the rock mass wants to perform. This is more so when somebody goes from their secondary/tertiary education directly into a consulting practice.
A good friend of mine mentioned: “When I first got into rock engineering, I used to run numerous numerical models, including FLAC, MSCalc, etc. When I got more experienced and knew what I was doing, I tended to modal less and do actual rock engineering, leaving the modelling for specific issues, but having more confidence in the input parameters and output analyses”.
What areas of the industry or trends do you think will become more important in coming years?
This is not an easy question, particularly in the current times with the international dynamics; e.g., pandemics, war and resulting inflation, human (general) outlook on life, etc.
What concerns me is the drive to “automate” geotechnical data collection, reduction and design methods. Unfortunately, it appears that our industry is heading towards having persons doing designs from data that is presented digitally (e.g., core scans, window/wall mapping photographs, drone images, etc.) instead of coming into physical contact with the rock and getting a feel of it.
I’ve jokingly called some of the recently (within the past 5 to 10 years) qualified mining engineers “cyber engineers”. When one of them asked me why, I mentioned it was because, as a consultant, he could design a mine from conception to closure, using software and without ever having shovelled one load of dirt from the working face. Unfortunately, it appears that this trend is also present in rock/geotechnical engineering.
Despite this “progress” being made in Artificial Intelligence, automation, etc, I am of the opinion that it is the rock/geotechnical engineering practitioner, with “working face-time” experience, will be the sought-after skillset, as it will be that skillset that will be a “reality-check” for the applicability and performance assessment of any Rock/Geotechnical Engineering design.
As for what parts of the industry (rock/geotechnical engineering) will become more important, it is the “engineering” of solutions to reduce risk to both the operations (personnel, excavations, financial and equipment) and the environment (not only as a result of damage to the surface due to subsidence, slope instability, ground- and surface water, but also developing artificial support units that has a minimal total effect on the environment).
If you could invite three people, alive or dead, to dinner – who would they be and why?
My father (still alive): He has shared many of his life’s, including working, experience and is my life mentor. Unfortunately, I have not always taken his advice, and I have tended to “reinvent the wheel”. I’d like the opportunity to spend more time with him so that he could share his wisdom with me, and hopefully I could pass it on to those with whom I come into contact.
Mother Teresa (Saint Teresa of Calcutta) Her kindness and endless sacrifice of all her time and energy into selflessly assisting those in need, is inspiring. I’d love to learn from her how to give selflessly, without reservation. This would be an extremely humbling opportunity, and one which I’d cherish.
Leonardo Da Vinci To meet a person with such creativity, foresight and artistic talent and get to have the opportunity to listen to “what makes him tick”, would be inspirational.
What moment of your life would you want to relive – and would you change anything?
I don’t have a moment of my life that I’d want to relive, as I am of the opinion that I have had a full and meaningful life thus far; I have no regrets and would not want a different life to that one I have already experienced.
I would not change a single thing in my past life, as the experiences (physical, emotional, educational and human-interaction) that I have had have taught me many lessons and have made me into the person whom I am today.
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
“Listen to the rock, it is telling you a story.” (Roger More O’Ferrall, my father and mentor)
What advice would you give to someone considering geotechnical engineering as a career?
Embrace the challenge, as it is a career/life-long journey. It will be a rollercoaster ride, and a fulfilling part of your life.