Hey everyone, my name is Rory. I scored work experience with the mining company HWE Mining in late 2010 and have been working with them casually ever since.
HWE Mining is wholly owned by Leighton Contractors, a worldwide contracting company who deal with everything from telecommunications to mining in remote areas.
When I got an email response from them saying they liked my resume and wanted to bring me in, I had no idea what I would be doing. Initially, I had to take a drug test and physical exam, and upon passing that, I was brought into the office to meet the team. The office was substantially larger than I had initially expected; it's in Osborne Park off Scarborough Beach road and features a simply gigantic office space with loads of computers and desks, and small indoor plants in between each cubicle. There are executive offices along the sides, and a large kitchen area with a few TVs. There are also several car parks including an underground one beneath tbe building.
At the time, I was working with one other student from Curtin named Stefan who had also scored a placement; and we went in to the office together.
I met up with the head of the Public Relations there, an extremely professional lady named Megan, and was then introduced to a younger employee named Sara who was the 2IC for Communications there from what I gathered. She was an ex-curtin student and was/is extremely easy to get along with.
Sara explained to Stefan and I that they were going to give us an easy task at first, and then provided that they like us, there would be more work from there. So, we started out by spending 2 weeks at a privately owned and run airport named Cobham, located out near the actual domestic aiport. Here, we distributed christmas presents to the miners who were returning from the mines for their scheduled work breaks.
This was a good introduction to the mining world, as we met and witnessed thousands of miners in a very short period; interacting with all of them in positive ways as they recieved their company given gift. The gifts weren't bad either, there were BBQ knive kits, pasta serving/making kits and even a small ipod alarm clock radio device.
The job involved driving a truck to a warehouse where all the presents were located. Grabbing enough boxes to fill the truck, and then driving to the airport and setting up a stall with a sign infront of the exit from the terminal, and then laying out all the presents on the table nicely. As the miners came out, we'd find out which flight they had come in from (and thus which mine they were coming from) and then grab an employee list from the truck so we could verify who was who and therefore who should recieve a present and who should not.
It involved a certain degree of professionalism, as we regularly had to deal with angry employees who were not on the list, and were watching all their friends recieve presents around them with them being left out.
Fortunately, once all of the 3000 or so presents had been given out over the 2 week period, we broke off for christmas and were told by Sara we would be contacted after the new year to come back and do more work.
I shall blog again soon. Take it easy everyone and good luck to those with on-going placements.
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