Better Data, Better Decisions: Meet the People Behind RESPEC’s Rock Testing

When you have a question about how rock will behave, the answer rarely comes from one test or one discipline. It comes from people who know what to look for.

Meet four of the engineers behind RESPEC’s rock mechanics and testing work. Their specialties range from salt caverns and open-pit slopes to underground ground control and structural design, but each helps clients make sense of technical data and apply it to real project decisions.

That experience supports projects across mining, energy, water, transportation, and civil infrastructure, from underground mines and storage caverns to tunnels, dams, and other structures built in or on rock.

Cody Vining – Salt Geomechanics

If a project involves salt, subsidence, ground control, or underground storage, Cody Vining is often helping answer the questions behind it.

Cody has more than 16 years of experience in salt and rock mechanics and has worked on salt and potash mining operations and salt cavern projects around the world. His work combines field observations, instrumentation, laboratory testing, and numerical modeling to understand how underground conditions may change over time and what that means for the project.

Jason Fritch – Open-Pit Geotechnical

In an open pit, changing ground conditions can quickly become an operational concern.

Jason Fritch has more than 15 years of mining industry experience in slope stability, geotechnical investigations, geologic mapping, monitoring systems, and risk mitigation. He helps clients understand what their geotechnical data is showing, where instability risks may be developing, and what to consider next.

Brent Slaker – Underground Geotechnical

Underground, questions about rock behavior and ground support can have an immediate effect on how mining moves forward.

Brent Slaker specializes in rock mechanics, ground control, and underground hard-rock environments. His background spans mining research, applied engineering, project management, and technical leadership, giving him experience connecting research and analysis with the realities of working underground.

Brett Belzer – Underground Structures

When geotechnical conditions and structural design overlap, Brett Belzer brings experience in both.

Brett supports mining and energy projects involving tunnels, dams, foundations, underground and surface facilities, and other complex infrastructure. His multidisciplinary background helps teams consider both what is happening in the ground and how the structure needs to perform.

The Testing Behind the Team

RESPEC’s in-house rock and materials testing capabilities give these engineers another tool for answering project questions.

Because the laboratory work stays closely connected to the engineering team, testing programs can be shaped around the questions a project actually needs to answer. Results can be evaluated alongside field observations, instrumentation, and modeling, with additional testing added when something needs a closer look.

That connection helps move the work from collecting data to understanding what it means for design, construction, operations, and risk.

Have a Project That Needs Answers?

Click here to learn more about RESPEC’s rock and materials testing capabilities.