I had the privilege of accumulating over 150 hours of hands-on experience working closely with the UIS drillers, the Geo team, and various crews who generously offered to guide me and provide insights into their roles.
My main project over the course of my vacation program included creating a commercial induction for the departments onsite, as well as helping with the changeover of accounts payable (AP) systems.
As a mining engineering vacation student, I mostly worked in the Tech Services team, in which I got to experience a range of engineering roles and disciplines such as mine ventilation, gas drainage and mine planning.
I was given a lot of autonomy to select and apply appropriate materials, components and devices for the redesigned system, which would increase reliability and ultimately promote plant uptime.
Being an inexperienced miner, my mentors while underground always ensured I felt safe, explained the tasks they were completing, and answered any questions I had about the operational side of things.
I completed this placement in conjunction with my thesis where I learnt all about condition monitoring and vibration analysis. The result of my project has the potential to be applied across each of the mine sites.
Every day I feel satisfied that I am contributing to bringing about a positive change for the world within the clean energy space and within the impactful mining industry.
Within a year of working here I have gone from a placement student to undergraduate to graduate and the whole time I have been exposed to many diverse tasks, operations, people, and responsibilities.