Rio Tinto Iron Ore

Yasmin

Injury Management Advisor
Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Pilbara Iron Railways Division

 

During my fourth year of study, I completed a three month vacation work placement with Rio Tinto Iron Ore's Corporate Health and Safety team based in Perth. After graduating from the University of Western Australia with a degree in Human Movement and Exercise Science (Exercise Rehabilitation), I joined Rio Tinto Iron Ore in the role of Graduate Injury Management Advisor.

My previous vacation work experience provided me with a valuable insight and practical knowledge of the business prior to officially commencing as a graduate, which I feel gave me a great 'kick-start' into an amazing career.

I began my graduate programme working within the Corporate Health and Safety team again in Perth. My role enabled me to promote new processes and ideas, and a large focus of my time was concentrated on promoting health and fitness for work across our operations.

In late 2005, I was able to work across various sites in the Pilbara Region, including Tom Price, Marandoo and Brockman. These experiences were challenging and rewarding, and played a crucial part in further developing my technical skills and knowledge of site specific issues.

I am now working within the Pilbara Iron Rail Division based at Dampier. Without any prior knowledge of the way a rail network operates, I find each day brings different and exciting new challenges.

I have not looked back since joining Rio Tinto Iron Ore as a graduate. It has provided me with exposure to so many different areas of the business, as well as interesting and knowledgeable people. For any new graduate coming into the business, I would definitely say that it is an exciting company to be part of and the degree of success you can achieve is within the palm of your hand just waiting to be discovered!

Graham

Commissioning Supervisor
Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Expansion Projects

I joined Rio Tinto after graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) from the Curtin University of Technology in 2003. Since then I have worked with Rio Tinto Expansion Projects in a variety of roles, from the shop floor, through to engineering and supervisory roles.

When I first started, I spent about five months at Eastern Range as a commissioning engineer, starting up and fine tuning the new mine. Since then I have preformed similar roles at both Yandicoogina and at Parker Point in the Pilbara Region. I was also given the opportunity to work in the Perth design offices on engineering studies for the future development of other projects, such as the Cape Lambert Upgrade, and the new mines of Mesa A and Turee Syncline. One of the non-engineering roles that I have worked in was as a client representative at the DPU, to ensure that the contracting companies were delivering "value for money" to Rio Tinto whilst still complying with our strict safety and quality controls.

The best thing about working for Rio Tinto, is the range of work that you can get involved with. There is every opportunity to be involved in either the operation or construction of mines, railways and ports. I may have joined as a mechanical engineer, but I spend just as much time on the mining, electrical and civil aspects of the business. This is of great assistance in being able to understand the bigger picture, which is especially useful when performing supervisory and management roles.

Megan

Marketing Graduate
Rio Tinto Iron Ore, HIsmelt Kwinana

In 2004 I graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce (Advertising and Marketing) with Honours from Curtin University of Technology. Prior to completion of my thesis I commenced work with HIsmelt as a graduate marketing officer.

Based in Kwinana, Western Australia, I have had the opportunity to watch the first commercial HIsmelt plant go from its final stages of construction through to operations. As part of the Technology Sales group, I coordinate promotional material such as the website, brochures and corporate video's.

As China is a significant market for the HIsmelt technology, part of my role is to help coordinate visits from Chinese steel companies. Frequent interaction with these customers has led me to begin learning Mandarin, which I can hopefully use one day when I visit colleagues in Beijing and Shanghai.

I also perform several analytical tasks such as tracking pig iron prices and analysing emerging steel markets. I have been fortunate enough to join the Rio Tinto Group at a time when the iron and steel industry has experienced strong demand and record prices.

I couldn't have asked for a better job, because the team is relatively small I am exposed to quite varied experiences, much more than I expected. The learning curve has been steep but with the continued support it has been easier to take advantage of the opportunities given to me.

HIsmelt definitely take pride in their graduates and strive to ensure we succeed.

Adam

Graduate Mechanical Engineer
Rio Tinto Iron Ore, HIsmelt Kwinana

I graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering with honours from Curtin University.

After working at the BP refinery for 18 months I was drawn to the new technology at HIsmelt and wanted to move my focus from Oil and Gas to the new smelting process.

The role I have is within operations engineering, specifically minor plant modifications/ improvements and new equipment. It is my job to justify, research, and supervise the modifications. I am involved in commissioning and I have to ensure the original objectives are kept in focus. I am also involved in power generation, raw materials equipment and gas cleaning plant.

Whilst at HIsmelt I feel I have gained extensive knowledge just by working with experienced engineers, through their willingness to share their knowledge, and unlimited support in an approachable environment. The project management side has developed my people and communication skills to more readily reach objectives with contractors.

Another important aspect for my peace of mind is that there is a strong safety culture at HIsmelt, all employees understand their responsibilities. Accreditation to ISO 14001 is approaching in April it is expected HIsmelt can then show to the outside world their achievements in this area.

I moved to HIsmelt to gain valuable experience in an exciting environment and to open the door for greater opportunities throughout Rio Tinto.

Sota 

Graduate Electrical Projects Engineer
Rio Tinto Iron Ore, HIsmelt Kwinana

I graduated in 2003 with an honours degree in Computer Science and Electrical/Electronic Engineering from the University of Western Australia. After working in the water industry for a year and a half, an opportunity in the mining industry came up and that was the beginning of my career at HIsmelt!

As an electrical project engineer, I work mainly on instrumentation projects and in particular conceptual development, scope definition, engineering design, procurement, field work, commissioning and basically anything that will enable me to deliver projects on time, on budget and safely. To carry a project from start to end has been very satisfying and rewarding. Since we have a relatively small team, I also get involved with work associated with not only other disciplines of engineering but also with operations and maintenance. This enables me to see the bigger picture and also makes me appreciate what other people do.

What I have found whilst working at HIsmelt is that the decisions that I make and the actions I take really do make a difference. What you get out of HIsmelt is determined on what you put in and I've gained an enormous amount of valuable operational experience.

I am thoroughly enjoying my time at HIsmelt and one of my career aspirations is to be involved in overseas negotiations and through HIsmelt I feel this can be achieved.

 

Jacqueline

I was fortunate enough to be awarded a Hamersley Iron scholarship through university.  As well as helping to support me through my Mechanical Engineering and Commerce degrees, the scholarship gave me the opportunity to undertake vacation work at Hamersley Iron's Dampier port and Paraburdoo mine.

I graduated in 1997 and joined Hamersley Iron as a Project Engineer in Dampier.  I was provided with training and the support of a mentor to help me do my job.  I still regularly seek advice from my mentor today.

After three years in Dampier I left Hamersley Iron to work for some other companies.  The grass was not greener and in 2004 I sought to rejoin the much larger Hamersley Iron (Pilbara Iron) in the Business Analysis team.

I am currently on a three month secondment in the Rio Tinto headquarters in London working in HR on organisational design.  I am enjoying working in an area which is not my area of expertise and I am learning a great deal.

When I return to Perth I will be moving into a Study Manager role where I will be undertaking pre-feasibility and feasibility studies for major iron ore mining projects.  It will be an exciting and challenging role with huge expansions currently planned.