What's your job about?
I work as a Mine Geologist at Roy Hill. Roy Hill is a resource-based operation in the Pilbara region of Western Australia currently producing 60 million tonnes per annum of iron ore. A mine geologist’s
main responsibility is to facilitate the optimal production of iron ore from mining operations. Mine Geologists are tasked with monitoring reconciliations between predicted/modelled, actual grade and tonnes while also providing accurate ore delineation and grade estimations to facilitate short to medium term mine planning. Mine Geology is great for people looking for a role that is both field-based and office-based. The fieldwork component of this job varies each day depending on the number of shots that are planned to be drilled and blasted during that period. We deal with different departments as we are involved in the production side of the business on a daily basis. The main departments we work with are the drill and blast team, production engineers and the scheduling team. My daily tasks include the following:
What's your background?
I was born in India and moved to Perth at the age of 8. I have always been interested in earth sciences from an early age, which led me to take this career path. I went to Curtin University and graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Geology) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance). I applied for the vacation program at Roy Hill and worked as a vacation student from November 2019 – to February 2020. This was a great opportunity for me as I realised I was extremely happy working for Roy Hill and was happy with the FIFO lifestyle. I applied for a graduate role with Roy Hill as soon as I finished my vacation program and started working as Graduate Ore Definition Geologist. This role was heavily field-based. I worked as a graduate geologist for 2 years and was looking to move as I wanted to gain new software skills. I saw my Geology as a perfect mix of fieldwork and office-based work and have been in this role for the last 3 months.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes, I think someone with a different background will be able to do my job although earth science knowledge would be highly beneficial. The characteristics and skills one should have to do this job include strong attention to detail and good data interpretation skills along with an interest in being out in the field. The person should have a strong safety mindset. A candidate with the skills mentioned above would be able to successfully transition into this role.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
The coolest thing about this job is being able to work on a mine site. Roy Hill is a company that is technically advancing. Being able to work on a mine site like Roy Hill exposes people to new technology, equipment, software and other tools that continually change how tasks are completed. Another cool part about my job is that there is an equal split between fieldwork and office work. I thoroughly enjoy the field component of the job as it gives me a different perspective compared to what I see through data.
What are the limitations of your job?
The biggest limitation of my job is that sometimes it can be physically demanding if there’s a lot of fieldwork to do within a short period of time. There is also a lot of responsibility that comes with this job as we are responsible for accurately identifying ore & waste and getting it wrong can lead to unnecessary time loss and monetary loss. We tend to be the middle person between a lot of departments, and this leads to a lot of work requests and queries that need to be dealt with in a short period of time.
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