Geohazard Mitigation Techniques

Trevor Ames, P.Eng.

Mining Geotechnical Services Director

Trevor is GeoStabilization’s Mining Geotechnical Services Director. After earning a Bachelor of Engineering in mining from Laurentian University and a Technology degree in Mining Engineering from Cambrian College, Trevor has spent over 20 years in the mining, quarry, and civil industries. Trevor has an extensive history in managing complex rapid-response, on-site projects and providing technical solutions to critical issues. His background includes specialized knowledge in blasting and explosives application techniques. Trevor was previously involved with ground and highwall stability techniques at various aggregate and open pit operations in Canada, Australia, and USA. He has managed countless technical client projects, focused on risk mitigation, productivity optimization, open pit geotechnical assessments and developed innovative designs incorporating new blasting techniques and procedures.

His operations and engineering knowledge extends into the Canadian Oil Sands, Base & Precious Metals, and Coal markets where he was accountable for rolling out mine planning, development and production, mine infrastructure, ore control, technical guidance & support for mine operations, engineering projects, safety initiatives, as well as reclamation and regulatory permitting. He is a licensed Professional Engineer, certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and ICAM Risk Management Certified.

Cameron Lobato, P.E., P.Eng.

Senior Vice President

Cameron served as President and Chief Engineer of GeoStabilization’s former subsidiary, GeoStabilization, Inc., since its founding in 2007. After its merger with GeoStabilization International^® in 2012, Cameron became its Western Division Director until his recent promotion to Senior Vice President. Cameron is responsible for all facets of geotechnical design including project management, design, design review, and logistics. He has particular expertise in construction means and methods associated with landslide mitigation adjacent to active public highways. His geotechnical construction career began in 1996 with an established Colorado design firm, where he gained over eleven years of managing and designing experience in temporary and permanent soil nail landslide stabilization, micropile walls, rockfall mitigation, tieback stabilization, and Geosynthetically Confined Soil (GCS^®) retaining walls. Cameron has designed and supervised the construction of over 400 earth retention systems and rockfall mitigation projects. A native of Western Colorado, Cameron received his BS in Civil Engineering from Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO.

Jason Langer

Director, Mountain Region

Jason is the Director for GeoStabilization’s Mountain Region. He joined the company in August 2015 as a Project Manager for the Eastern Soils Division where he participated in various earth retention and compaction grouting projects in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. Jason earned a B.S. from Youngstown State University and an M.S. from Northern Arizona University. Before joining GeoStabilization, he worked for a leading nationwide geotechnical contractor and field managed large and multi- faceted grouting, shoring, and micropile projects. Jason has extensive experience in micropiles, micropile testing (including several tests over 1000 kips), ground anchors, anchored soldier pile & lagging walls (including smooth shotcrete finishes), dam grouting, compaction grouting, and polyurethane grouting.

Dr. Martin Woodard, P.E., P.G.

Chief Rockfall Engineer

Dr. Woodard is GeoStabilization’s Chief Rockfall Engineer. Both a professional engineer and geologist whose experience includes investigation, design, and implementation of remediation techniques for unstable soil and rock slopes, Marty has significant experience in rock slope stability, rock slope rating systems, subsurface geology & geotechnical interpretation, landslide investigations, foundation analysis, and geologic reconnaissance. His expertise is in rock mass characterization, rock slope engineering, and rockfall remediation & control. Marty earned a B.A in Geology from the State University of New York at Potsdam College, a M.S. in Environmental and Engineering Geosciences from Radford University (Virginia), and a Ph.D. in Engineering Geology from Kent State University in Ohio. He has authored the Rockfall Hazard Rating Matrix and Rock Slope Design Manual for the Ohio Department of Transportation and has worked throughout the United States and South & Central America.

John Metzger

Business Development Technologist || Geomatics Services Projects Coordinator

John Metzger is a Business Development Technologist and the Geomatics Services Group Project Coordinator for IDS GeoRadar in Golden, CO. with over 12 years’experience in the mining industry. Previously John supported international development projects and was an IT entrepreneur for over 13 years in Africa. He is responsible for Mining and Geomatics Services projects and instrumentation realization across North America. During his international tenure, John explored and implemented new technologies, data analysis, and delivery systems. He has worked extensively on mine sites during live Pit Asset “events” successfully ensuring the data realized allows for the continuation of safety, operations, and production. This unique opportunity, at the nexus of operating sites’Pit Asset Management, has provided significant lessons and realizations involving live data collection, analysis, and operational and management value provision. John holds AAS, BS, degrees from Rochester Institute of Technology, and an MA from Ball State University.

Pieter Bas Leezenberg

Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder

Pieter is the CEO and co-founder of SkyGeo. He leads the overall company strategy and direction. Pieter is an entrepreneur who has held executive roles in early stage technology companies, developing new products for enterprise customers in the last 2 decades. He started his career as a geologist at Shell, in the Research division of IBM and subsequently as an engineer in the advanced technology and Maxtor Corp, where he participated in the IPO. Pieter holds a B.Sc. in Geology from the Free University in Amsterdam and a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

Steve Borron

Geotechnical Services Manager

Steve began his academic career at San Diego State University earning both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Geological Sciences. Upon graduation, he began working at Geotechnics Incorporated working primarily on mass grading projects and then moved on to American Geotechnical Incorporated where he worked for ten years on various projects including several high-profile landslides in southern California. He then reached out to Freeport-McMoRan Incorporated (FMI) where he began working as the Senior Geologist, supervising the Geomechanical Department at FMI’s open-pit copper mine located in Bagdad, Arizona. The mining position gave him an exciting and new opportunity to study, analyze and interpret slope-monitoring radar data at a site with notoriously unstable slopes. His work resulted in several successful slope failure predictions that led to a slope failure prediction method based on data from the IDS IBIS-FM slope monitoring radar system. As a result, of repeated prediction success Freeport-McMoRan implemented the prediction method in all their North America and worldwide operations.

The success of the prediction method facilitated his presentation at the 2013 International Slope Stability Conference in Brisbane, Australia, and a presentation at Grasberg, one of the world’s most massive open-pit copper and gold mines located in Papua, Indonesia. The following year he was part of the FMI Geomechanical Group that received the “Mine Safety and Health Technology Innovations Award” from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Washington D.C. for, “An Integrated Approach to Real-Time Data Analysis for Changing Ground Conditions.”

Steve left FMI in 2016 and began consulting and working with civil engineers to provide slope-monitoring radar interpretation services. In 2018 he accepted the Geotechnical Services Manager position at IDS GeoRadar and a leadership role to advance the Geomatics Services Group to provide radar data interpretation for the civil engineering sector and training courses for both mine and civil engineering groups.