It Started Very Simply…
In March 2020, Benjamin Cox and Ben Murphy – one a visionary of corporate enterprise and the other a seasoned mining industry leader – started talking. COVID had isolated everyone, and they were looking for a way to keep their community engaged.
They decided to offer a workshop series on innovative perspectives in sustainable mining practices during lockdown.
The lectures were well-attended, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, so the duo decided to work with UBC to turn it into a certificate. That November, the single workshop model expanded to a multi-course certificate, and they capitalized on a genuine need for their brand of transformative insights in the mining industry. The challenge was how to fund it.
Enter the University of British Columbia and the Bradshaw Institute for Minerals and Mining (BRIMM). John Steen and Peter Bradshaw recognized the incredible value Ben and Benjamin were bringing to the mining community; a partnership was formed, dramatically enhancing the objectives of UBC and BRIMM while providing a framework for expanding their curriculum.
Today, what started as a series of LinkedIn workshops has grown into a global education program that has enriched the lives and careers of over 1,000 mining professionals. Spanning half a year of rigorous training, exercises, and empowering practical experience, the BRIMM Micro Certificate in Economic Leadership is the industry’s largest and most prestigious mining business program.
the right people in the right jobs
“Problems can become opportunities
when the right people come together.”
— Robert South
Over his varied career, Benjamin has worked for hedge funds, has been CEO of an exploration company, and worked for prestigious OEMs. Benjamin’s commitment to prove how the private sector can solve complex environmental problems has resulted in innovative projects in exploration, mineral processing, executive finance, and education.
Currently the Head of Regional Product Line Management for North America at FLSmidth, Ben co-founded the Executive Micro-Certificate in Economic Leadership in Mining offered through MiningEd/BRIMM at the University of British Columbia, empowering mining professionals to break silos within their organizations and effect powerful, enduring, and sustainable change in the industry.
BRIMM fosters innovation across the spectrum of mining operations by breaking through traditional research silos to combine expertise and create effective and actionable solutions. We take on the biggest problems confronting the mining industry by cultivating the top minds in the fields of Mining Engineering, Microbiology, Geology, Business, Policy, Data Science and more.
