MBC sponsor South32’s Mine Engineer Cayley Hoffman with her dog Riggs hiking on Mount Lemmon.
Collaborating with our sponsors, we’re sharing the many ways professionals cultivate and use creativity to improve their personal lives, their careers and their communities. This article features Cayley Hoffman, Mine Engineer with South32. Read on to learn more.
Cayley Hoffman is a Mine Engineer with South32. Even though the majority of her work involves managing technical details, she finds plenty of opportunities to use creativity in her line of work. She defines creativity as the ability to see a problem and come up with multiple solutions that might be quite different from the straight-forward or obvious answer. A creative solution doesn’t have to be a “new” thought, it can be a new way of thinking, a new approach to a problem or a new way of implementing a previous thought or plans.
She explains her work at South32: “We’re in the pre-mining study stage, which means we are planning The Hermosa Mine outside of Patagonia, a mine that has not been built yet. The geologists on our project have defined an orebody, and part of my job is to determine how we can build a mine to get to the orebody and extract it. I work with software that allows me to design the underground mine in 3D, and then produce a sample schedule showing all the steps that we need to take to actually mine the ore from underground.”
There are a lot of factors and inputs that go into making the mine plan as accurate as possible. So Cayley works with many subject matter experts every day to gather all the required information and help determine the optimal design based on endless configurations and layouts.
Cayley Hoffman using 3D software to design the underground Hermosa Mine outside of Patagonia.
She says, “When I am going through the design process I am able to flag elements that have potential to impact the environment. It is very exciting to have the opportunity to use my creativity to help develop an environmentally sustainable mine from the ground up.”
As a former mountain bike athlete who competed all over the world, Cayley found that creativity frequently came into play when she was riding on the trails. Many times there were sections of trail where every racer would take the same path, without thinking about whether it was the fastest. Her team took the time to look at all the options and sometimes come up with a ‘creative line’ that shaved a few seconds off their race times. This could be the difference between winning or losing a race, and many times not following the same path as everyone else paid off.
It was during her travels that she saw many mines, both active and closed. She always found mines really interesting, and this coupled with her love of working outdoors, influenced her to major in geology. During Cayley’s second year of school she learned of the Mining and Geological Engineering department at the University of Arizona (UA) through a friend who was in the program. She was attracted to the many different areas of study within mining at UA. She chose to focus on sustainable resource development, taking courses on how mines can affect the environment.
In her job she often reaches a point where she has to make a design decision based on many possible options. Taking the time to sort and select potential solutions helps her streamline the review process for others when discussing design decisions with a larger group.
Cayley is an avid hiker, mountain biker and in her spare time also likes to go on camping trips with her husband and their two dogs.
To stimulate her creativity, Cayley says, “I have always found that getting outside and moving really gets the creative juices flowing. I like to go for a walk to the nearby park and leave my headphones at home, so that I can be alone with my thoughts. I find sitting at my computer for too long really impacts my ability to think creatively. If there is a particular problem that I am focused on solving, I will take a small note pad with me to make some notes as things come into my head.”
Her advice for young people thinking about going to college is, “Don’t be afraid to start classes, even if you aren’t sure what you want to major in. Your first couple of years are mostly general education courses that will apply to any major you decide on, and you really only find out what you don’t want to do once you start taking classes.”
She also recommends joining as many clubs and organizations as possible to meet more people. Tapping into a big network is another great creativity tool that comes in handy when tackling challenges at school or work. Cayley says, “More than likely someone in your network has already been through what you’re facing, and they can help guide you through it.”
THANK YOU, SOUTH32!