Open your mind to an exciting future! THE BEST PART OF MY JOB IS... IT’S “I often go PRETTY to NASA and deliver lectures. EXCITING Space used to be something TO BE A mining engineers YOUNG couldn’t even IT’S A VERY dream about… DYNAMIC I chose mining PERSON But not anymore.” INDUSTRY; engineering WORKING SERKAN SAYDAM, THERE ARE because I loved UNSW maths and science WITH A LOT OF in school. I saw it MASSIVE CHALLENGES. as a challenge IF YOU APPLY and wanted to MACHINERY YOURSELF, prove I could do whatever I put my – BIG BITS YOU CAN mind to and worked O F K I T.” REALLY GO FAR. hard to achieve it. SAMANTHA WATSON, EVERY DAY IS Girls can do ANGLO AMERICAN DIFFERENT.” anything!” AMY LOWE, MOLLIE POULTER, ST BARBARA NEWCREST MINING MORE TO MINING WELCOME TO THE MORE TO MINING CAREERS GUIDE 04 A lot more 10 Day in the life 14 Green energy 19 Mining a path to mining begins here to Manhattan 11 Study hard, 06 Choose your shine bright 15 Leave it as you 20 Modern-day own adventure found it: mine site explorers 12 Modern life goes rehabilitation 07 Tomorrow’s better with mining 22 Innovation world 16 Mining from the and design city office block 08 Mining myths 24 Building your busted 17 Drones and career in mining: space mining VET and trades 18 Creative 26 Building your destruction career in mining: university MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA — 3 THERE’S A LOT MORE TO MODERN MINING THAN YOU THINK The modern mining industry is much more than big machines, 1. MORE OPPORTUNITIES hard hats and high vis. We interviewed workers, students, industry experts and Many of the people you will meet here are just like you. researchers from across Australia for this magazine – to share They didn’t know what to expect from mining and couldn’t their mining career stories with you. imagine the opportunities that came their way for world and local travel, new discoveries, lifelong friendships and They all have two things in common: they love challenges. their job and are proud of their industry. ➜ You could be sent to the United Nations (page 19), This Career Guide is designed to take you beyond some of the become an inventor (page 22), design an outdoor stereotypes and into the real world of mining. laboratory (page 15) or search for the sustainable energy Choosing a career can be a daunting experience made easier of the future (page 21). with access to good information and first-hand experiences. This is your chance to find out why there is so much more to mining. 4 — MORE TO MINING MORE TO MINING THERE’S A LOT MORE TO MODERN MINING THAN YOU THINK 2. MORE TECHNOLOGY 3. MORE TO LEARN Research, development and innovation are the bedrock The University of Queensland is ranked first in the of Australian mining. You will find cool tech and some of world for Mining and Mineral Engineering. It is one of 10 the brightest minds on the planet making life better. Australian universities offering mining-related degrees. Two of those unis offer Associate Degrees; a fast and You could build remote operational gear, as the flexible alternative for students, or those already working team at Australian Droid + Robot does, or work with in the sector. telepresence technology, which allows underground mine operators to remotely inspect hazardous areas ➜ Check out your options for tertiary study without putting their people at risk. on pages 26 and 27. ➜ You can read more about these sorts of exciting technology jobs on pages 16 and 17. MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA — 5 CHOOSE YOUR From pit operators to PhD students, mining opportunities OWN ADVENTURE are incredibly varied. THE APPRENTICE THE MINING ENGINEER Name: Taleigha Everingham-Potts Name: Jelena Ceranic Job: Apprentice – Auto Job: Mining Graduate Electrical, Newcrest Mining Engineer, BHP Work Site: Cadia, NSW Work site: Mt Whaleback Qualifications: Second I want young people to WORKING Mine, WA year apprentice through know that university is TAFE NSW, as part of THE NUMBERS Qualifications: Bachelor not the only path to Cadia’s Apprenticeship of Civil and Construction a successful career. Program Name: Lara Garth Engineering (Hons), Curtin And I want women to Job: Financial Controller, University Message: I’m doing a know that even though Idemitsu Australia Favourite part of the job: trade and working in this it is a male-dominated Resources “The practical side. We get industry because of the industry, your opportunities, opportunities it affords me – treatment and pay are Work site: Brisbane, QLD to be a truck driver, be part of the blast crew and see plus I think it’s pretty cool! equal to the men. Qualifications: Chartered how things happen in the Accountant, Graduate field. And you feel really Diploma (Chartered accomplished doing 12-hour Accountants Australia and days, even though it is hard New Zealand), Bachelor and long. You learn how to Qualifications: BSc of Commerce/Bachelor stay focused for a long time. Geology (Federation of International Business University) (Griffith University) “Also, the time off is awesome – I work hard, then get to really Career: “Working as a Career: “I started my switch off and recharge.” career as an auditor at a geologist in the mining professional services firm. Ambition: “I want to be in industry has given me the Mining sparked my interest a leadership position one opportunity to experience due to its tangible nature – day, influencing and inspiring a variety of geology-based and the big yellow trucks! people and making people’s roles in different mines I joined Idemitsu Australia lives happier.” across Australia. Resources in 2005, holding GEOLOGY Each mine has had unique senior leadership roles ABOVE AND living conditions, from residential to fly-in fly-out across finance, planning, BELOW governance and risk.” and even drive -in drive-out. My career has Name: Zac Marshall been spent looking for gold Job: Geologist, in places such as Mount Isa, Centennial Mining Kalgoorlie, Leinster and now at Woods Point in Victoria's Work site: A1 Gold Mine, High Country. I really enjoy Woods Point, VIC utilising and expanding on the science skills I learned at university.” 6 — MORE TO MINING MORE TO MINING TOMORROW’S Mining is one of the most technologically advanced industries in Australia. WORLD TODAY Read on to find out more. Drone operator. Virtual reality researcher. Robotics technician. EXISTING EMERGING Artificial intelligence developer. These are all jobs in Australia’s mining industry in 2019. And they’re also the jobs of tomorrow. Drill operator Data modeller and systems engineer (working remotely Within five years, 77% of jobs in Australian mining will be different thanks to technology – and the people who make the most of it. to make decisions about data collected by an autonomous Across the mining process – from exploration through to drill rig) operations, processing, transport and trading – technology is transforming the way we mine. Truck driver Autonomous fleet operator In some industries, that would mean losing jobs to robots (managing the human-to- and automation. In mining, technology means safer and more machine interface with productive jobs. driverless vehicles) Most jobs in mining will be enhanced by technological innovation. Drill and blast engineer Geotechnical engineers, (working underground) technology and systems Surveyors, field geologists and drill operators will still support (working remotely be in demand, but these jobs will be revolutionised by artificial intelligence, drones, driverless vehicles and on autonomous underground remote-controlled systems. machinery) This means that if you’re interested in robotics and automation, mining could be for you! Diesel-powered Electric- and renewable machines energy-powered machines Underground workers Remote workers Exploratory drilling Use of historical and predictive data, real-time data analysis, 3D and virtual reality visualisation software Standard drill Adapting to drilling and blast conditions using artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, and predicting blast results with 3D simulation and AI MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA — 7 MINING MYTHS BUSTED MYTH TWO: MINING IS DANGEROUS No one is more aware of risk and daily safety briefings MYTH ONE: than the people who own and are all integral to daily THE MINING BOOM IS OVER run mines. mining operations. There has been a big drop Reports claiming the mining boom is over have Australia is an international in the number of injuries misled some Australians about what is really happening leader in mine safety recorded during the in the industry. research and technologies, virtual training facilities and past decade. The mining industry has undergone a period of mining software. Safety and This improvement is partly significant expansion in the past decade. A period of health are prioritised in all due to better precautions massive investment supported many construction jobs operations. and training but also because, in the industry as new mines, processing plants and in a modern mine, fewer infrastructure were built. Ventilation, high-tech monitoring, protective employees spend most of Now that these projects have been built, Australia is clothing, training, certificates their time underground. producing new record volumes of iron ore, coal, bauxite, of competency, supervision gold and lithium. This production phase of the boom will last for a much longer period because mines typically take a few years to build but can run for considerably more than 20 years. MYTH THREE: ALL MINING JOBS These operating mines are offering many new positions in ARE REMOTE the industry. More than 17,000 new jobs in the resources sector have been created since 2016. Many workers choose the recreational facilities such as lifestyle advantages of swimming pools and gyms Most of the things we use in daily life are made from mined working remotely through and social activities to create materials.