Richard Bishop of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who earned his bachelor's in mining engineering from Virginia Tech in 2002, received Virginia Tech's College of Engineering Outstanding Young Alumnus Award for 2013.

Bishop was a high achiever early on in his adolescent years at Prince George high school in Virginia. He served as class president, both his sophomore and junior years and as vice president his senior year. He was well respected by class peers, and by his wrestling teammates who elected him team captain his junior and senior years. Bishop excelled both academically and on the mat. He was crowned district champ in the 189-lb weight class his sophomore and senior years.

College and beyond would prove Bishop was indomitable.

"It was an interesting combination of family background, choice of different engineering disciplines, and promising career opportunities, which led me to choose Virginia Tech as the college I would attend. In addition to being a leading engineering school, Virginia Tech had an excellent reputation, a beautiful campus, exciting recreational activities, and affordable tuition," said Bishop.

His grandfather on his father's side was a miner, working in the coalmines of West Virginia after World War II. His great, great, great grandfather on his mother's side was a mining engineer, born in Cornwall, England.

While Bishop was enrolled at Virginia Tech, he completed an additional year of mining engineering studies in Europe, spending time abroad in Finland, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands. After graduation, he continued to further his knowledge in economics at the University of South Florida and mineral economics at the Colorado School of Mines by studying part-time in their graduate programs.

Bishop began his professional career working for Mosaic as a process engineer and was promoted to operations supervisor of its largest phosphate mining operation, with over 250 personnel in three short years. He was responsible for making decisions that improved mine production, plant recovery, and grade. He wrote mine permit modifications for environmental regulatory agencies, and developed software for the company to quickly analyze hydraulic efficiencies of their slurry pumping systems.

Then, Bishop joined Harrison Western in Denver, Colo., as a project manager where he hired, trained, and managed hard rock miners to complete underground mining construction and mine rehabilitation projects in the western U.S. for clients such as Freeport McMoRan and Barrick Gold.

In 2008 Bishop was offered a job in Toronto, Canada, as a mining equity research associate for RBC Capital Markets. As a part of the award-winning global mining research team, he traveled throughout Canada, Mexico, Chile, Romania, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey, where he evaluated potential investments.

Currently, the world traveler has served as the vice president of investments for Aberdeen International, also located in Toronto. In his first role as an officer of a public company, Bishop's work is based on fundamental research and analysis of the mining sector. Bishop also currently serves as president and CEO of a new investment company in Mongolia, funded by Aberdeen.

In 2006, he was honored with the Outstanding Young Professional award from the Society of Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME). And in 2008, he was invited to join the United Engineering Foundation's Emerging Leaders Alliance.

 

Lindsey Haugh
lhaugh@vt.edu