Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Vacation Work at Mt Gordon
At the moment I am doing vacation work at Birla Mt Gordon. I am here for a 3 month stint doing a 14/7 shift, from the beginning of December to the end of February when I go back to uni. The site here was originally known as Gunpowder. I found this out after saying “I’m going to Birla Mt Gordon” and nobody, not even some within the industry had much idea about it. The site is located about 120km north of Mt Isa. It’s a FIFO (fly-in fly-out) operation. I’m flying in and out of Townsville, however there are people out here flying from Cairns and Brisbane as well. This mine is all underground at the moment, mining copper, after the open cut was exhausted in 2005. This site is relatively old, and has seen a few different methods of mining. All of this makes for really interesting environmental work.
My role as the environmental vacation student has been to collect water samples, sediment samples, record flows through pipes, release snakes!! and monitor any potentially environmentally hazardous sites. I also have office work, such as archiving old reports and reading and writing new ones. I even got my own office and vehicle! This has all been really interesting and I have learnt so much already.
As well as learning all these practical environmental sampling and monitoring skills, I have also picked up a few more lessons out here-
-how to change a tyre (lets just say it was helpful I was wearing a hard hat at the time!)
-how to reverse very, very carefully down a long extremely bumpy track with a huge drop off on either side, after taking the wrong road
-how to slide gracefully on loose rocks in an ‘I meant to do that’ kind of way
-how to say “righto mate” religiously….very important phrase here!
-how to survive in above 40 degree heat.
-how to perfect the method of shooing flies….great skill
- how to scare both myself and a bull when stepping out of the gym at night to find the bull right on the doormat!
-how to fold archive boxes and lids….i'm a pro box maker now!
- and of course how to drink beer!
I believe that the skills I have learnt here have prepared me for a career in the industry. Getting over my preference of other acholic beverages to beer, came early on. It’s amazing how much a day working in the sun really makes you appreciate the stuff you previously dismissed! But having said that of course, while a drink and a chat at the end of the shift is great socialising and you meet many people that way, its really important to limit the amount of alcohol you drink while living in camp as there are always “Bretho’s” and you must blow 0.00 the next shift. Changing a tyre is also a really good thing to know how to do…as an enviro you have to drive basically all over the mine site and take some pretty rough roads, so it’s a great skill.
Another thing that that I found cool was that stereotypically the resources industry is male dominated, but I have met some really great women out here in a variety of roles. As well as that, being the only female vacation student for Birla, I somehow scored myself a room with an on-suite bathroom and close to the mess (dining hall) as compared to my fellow scholarship buddies Mitch and Luke who ended up in another camp using communal bathrooms!!
During downtime in the camp there is a bit to keep you occupied including a gym, a pool, a TV room, pub, the social club activities, plus there’s always a BBQ on somewhere, or that laundry that you’ve been putting off doing. A lot of people also have laptops with them, so that they can watch movies or play games. However you often find after a twelve hour shift you’re pretty ready for bed!
I think it probably does take a special kind of person to want to live and work in these conditions. But I am absolutely loving every minute of it so far and can see myself making this my career, no worries!
I will do another post when i finish out which will include photos.
I have included a link to the Birla Mt Gordon site as well for further information- http://www.adityabirlaminerals.com.au/birlamtgordonoperation.asp
My role as the environmental vacation student has been to collect water samples, sediment samples, record flows through pipes, release snakes!! and monitor any potentially environmentally hazardous sites. I also have office work, such as archiving old reports and reading and writing new ones. I even got my own office and vehicle! This has all been really interesting and I have learnt so much already.
As well as learning all these practical environmental sampling and monitoring skills, I have also picked up a few more lessons out here-
-how to change a tyre (lets just say it was helpful I was wearing a hard hat at the time!)
-how to reverse very, very carefully down a long extremely bumpy track with a huge drop off on either side, after taking the wrong road
-how to slide gracefully on loose rocks in an ‘I meant to do that’ kind of way
-how to say “righto mate” religiously….very important phrase here!
-how to survive in above 40 degree heat.
-how to perfect the method of shooing flies….great skill
- how to scare both myself and a bull when stepping out of the gym at night to find the bull right on the doormat!
-how to fold archive boxes and lids….i'm a pro box maker now!
- and of course how to drink beer!
I believe that the skills I have learnt here have prepared me for a career in the industry. Getting over my preference of other acholic beverages to beer, came early on. It’s amazing how much a day working in the sun really makes you appreciate the stuff you previously dismissed! But having said that of course, while a drink and a chat at the end of the shift is great socialising and you meet many people that way, its really important to limit the amount of alcohol you drink while living in camp as there are always “Bretho’s” and you must blow 0.00 the next shift. Changing a tyre is also a really good thing to know how to do…as an enviro you have to drive basically all over the mine site and take some pretty rough roads, so it’s a great skill.
Another thing that that I found cool was that stereotypically the resources industry is male dominated, but I have met some really great women out here in a variety of roles. As well as that, being the only female vacation student for Birla, I somehow scored myself a room with an on-suite bathroom and close to the mess (dining hall) as compared to my fellow scholarship buddies Mitch and Luke who ended up in another camp using communal bathrooms!!
During downtime in the camp there is a bit to keep you occupied including a gym, a pool, a TV room, pub, the social club activities, plus there’s always a BBQ on somewhere, or that laundry that you’ve been putting off doing. A lot of people also have laptops with them, so that they can watch movies or play games. However you often find after a twelve hour shift you’re pretty ready for bed!
I think it probably does take a special kind of person to want to live and work in these conditions. But I am absolutely loving every minute of it so far and can see myself making this my career, no worries!
I will do another post when i finish out which will include photos.
I have included a link to the Birla Mt Gordon site as well for further information- http://www.adityabirlaminerals.com.au/birlamtgordonoperation.asp
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