What's your job about?
Alcoa Australia is a values-based company and has one of the world’s largest integrated bauxite mining, alumina refining and aluminium smelting systems. This includes two corporate offices (Booragoon and Bindjareb), two bauxite mines (Huntly and Willowdale), three alumina refineries (Kwinana, Pinjarra and Wagerup), two dedicated port facilities (Kwinana and Bunbury) and one aluminium smelter (Portland).
Being a mining engineer at the Huntly Bauxite Mine, it is my responsibility to ensure the bauxite is developed and extracted from the ground safely and efficiently. To do this, a lot of my time is spent scheduling and designing mining pits so that the maximum amount of bauxite can be extracted at the desirable grade for both the Pinjarra and Kwinana refineries. I develop the three-month plan, which is derived from the 36-month plan, and support the development and mining planners to achieve this. Additionally, I ensure each design is checked, signed off and submitted to the surveyors to be uploaded to GPS systems ready for execution.
If I was to put it into simple terms, my role involves making big rocks into smaller rocks by having big toys move brown material to a crusher which then transports the ore on a conveyor belt to alumina refineries for processing.
What's your background?
I was born in South Africa and when I was 10 my family migrated to Busselton, Western Australia. When we arrived in Australia I could not speak English and the first few years were very difficult due to the language barrier. Thankfully, my interests were math and sport so English wasn’t needed that much as in math the numbers didn’t change and in Australia everyone calls each other ‘mate’, so I did that to get by.
For year 10 work experience I worked at the Busselton Shire. I was rotated to a new area of work each day, and it was on my last day that I knew I wanted to do engineering. At the time the Busselton Jetty was being upgraded and when I went out with the engineers to inspect the jetty, to see the construction firsthand and how the engineers worked with the team and were delivering the plans and problem solving, I was hooked.
After enjoying a ‘gap year’, I went to Curtin University and studied Mining Engineering. I did one year in Perth and three years in Kalgoorlie. My three years in Kalgoorlie were amazing and I met so many great people. It was here where I landed myself vacation work at an underground gold mine. I worked there for nearly two years, working weekends and university holidays. As graduate programs opened, I applied for many and was lucky to be accepted by Alcoa in 2018.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes, if you are willing to continuously learn, problem-solve, effectively deal with people and work as a team. A lot of my day-to-day work involves interacting with various stakeholders to solve challenges. To do this, the technical knowledge I acquired at university, the workplace, from attending courses and by using my network has been invaluable.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
I love going out into the field and watching a design I created to be executed to plan and hopefully look similar to how it did on the computer. I love to watch the progress associated with each mining pit, from removing the trees, through all the development phases including mining, and then landscaping and rehabilitating. The sweetest and most rewarding part of my job is watching tree growth after the pit has been rehabilitated, and then seeing the fauna return to their new habitat.
What are the limitations of your job?
The biggest limitation of my role is the high demand and high workload. Most days you go home knowing that you have not been able to complete all you intended to do as there is always something new or more important that springs up. As the role involves designing for heavy machinery, every design must be to standard, as the consequences of an incorrect design could be severe.
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...
When you leave university you know the fundamentals, but the real learning is only just beginning when you commence in a job, and it never stops as there is always something new that you experience.
Networking is extremely important. Take the time to learn about your co-workers, bosses and attend networking events. I have drawn on many of my networks for support and have provided support, both technical and mentoring.
The minerals industry is vast and there are so many directions you can take your career in. You won’t get bored!