Mineral fields of Western Australia

Transcription

Around the turn of the century, the Minerals Council of Australia, through the Minerals Tertiary Education Council, got together 3 of the leading economic geology research groups around Australia, that being the Economic Geology Research Unit at James Cook University in Townsville, the Centre for Ore Deposit Studies Codes at the University of Tasmania and the then Centre for Global Metallogeny, now Centre for Exploration Targeting here at UWA, to provide a program that was specifically for industry people to come back, up- skill in geology applied to exploration, and then take that knowledge back out into their companies. I thought I was quite weak at structural geology so when I saw this course I jumped at the chance because I really want to increase my knowledge in structural geology. Because I know that where I work and most of the deposits are controlled by structure so I really needed to get more knowledgeon that. And the highlight has definitely been the practical part of the course, it's very applied, as opposed to courses I've attended before which have been more based on theory so it's very, very good to actually do the practical side of it and apply that theory. I think it's going to give me the confidence to go out and, you know use this information in the field to interpret the structure of various deposits and really help my company find new deposits in the future. With the Masters program I chose it because I didn't have Honours and I wanted to do some more study and just get my qualifications up a little bit. The other really good thing about this Masters program was that it was in blocks so that I could still work full-time and take two weeks off and do the blocks, and do the field trips. I found it really good that way because to do one online, or to do one by distance, for me would have been too difficult to fit it into life and work, so being able to take two weeks at a time I find really useful. Structural geology is something that's really useful, but it's something that often is a bit scary and you get a bit scared off, or you don't think you're going to apply it right. So going back to what I learnt at university but kind of having a refresher and how to apply it in a real sense now that I'm looking at rocks every day and applying it in a work sense, I think is why I chose the Structural course here at UWA. It's been really practical and really hands on and they've taken the focus away from the Physics and the Maths and put it in real max and doing really practical exercises. So you're really learning how to apply what you know to any system you go to in the future. So it's been really good. Again because it's adding to my qualifications and it's filling that spot because I didn't do honours, so it's adding that postgraduate letters after my degree which is good. it's also giving me confidence to say yes I know this stuff, I know how to apply it, giving me confidence to take that back into the workplace. It's really hands on, that you get to apply the knowledge in real, in a real mapping sense and putting it altogether. The other thing that's really good about it is that it's not all stereo nets, which is helpful. Because, again, that's something that scares you from your days doing structural as your undergrad, it's all sitting down and doing stereo nets and not getting the big picture of how to apply it in, in a real field for exploration. Over the last decade, what we've found is that this course has marked a step change in the careers of the participants. A very high percentage of the participants on these courses move on to senior decision making positions within the industry, and, if you look around the industry, and because this industry is global, it's remarkable the impact this program has had. You'll see a number of our alumni as leaders of this industry. So essentially what this course is doing, is its training the future leaders of industry, and there really is no equivalent program elsewhere to do that. I became a geologist because I've always been interested in earthquakes and volcanoes. And when I was growing up and went on family holidays, I used to always go around picking up rocks, so it was always in my blood. My mum was actually always a geography teacher so I hold her solely responsible. And we did a bit of family research a few years ago and we found out that on my mum's side her great, great grandfather was actually a mining engineer. I decided to do this course as part of my Master's degree and I chose to do my Masters because after 14 years in the industry I realised it was time to go back and actually try and understand some more academic, more applied things rather than just focus on what I see day to day, and look at the big picture controls on mineralisation and different mineral systems, different commodities. Really taking what we can see on the small scale and putting it right on, sort of, the regional tectonics, almost sort of lithospheric scale structural controls. in the past you sort of focus on very much mine scale and actually being able to take something you can see in an out crop and infer something that can control mineralisation on a very, very large scale. I guess when I go back to work I'm going to be doing quite a lot of structural mapping. Trying to understand all shoot controls within a deposit. And then also hopefully being able to use that to step out into sort of more regional targeting, and identifying new prospects as well as understanding the ones we have today. I was attracted to this course because I worked in a structurally complex pit, and this course gave me the opportunity to revisit and refresh some of the skills I had learnt at university. The best part of this course has been able to spend two weeks with two intelligent, clever structural geologists and they can refresh my memory in the classroom and then actually coming out to see some of the rocks I actually work with and pick up some of these structures. Going back to the work, hopefully I can take some of these skills which I've revisited and relearnt over the last two weeks and can reapply them to my pit and, hopefully going forward it will build into a better understanding of geology and geological model at work. What really attracted me to geology was in second year I undertook my first field course, which was a mapping course down in South East Victoria and spending time outside looking at different structures, different geological features and really just being on the ground and understanding the landforms and what's around us. And from that, from that field subject, basically my career was really taken care of, I knew from then that geology was a career path I wanted to follow and I went on to do a major in Geology and then did an honours course at Melbourne University, in Sedimentology and really it's the field work and being out amongst the rocks, that is what I really love. So I started in industry 18 months ago, and I'm an Exploration Geologist working out of Perth. A lot of the work is on a drill rig, however we do a lot of exploration mapping which is obviously part of looking at target generation and finding out where new iron ore and other targets are. And a course this is a great way to really get back to fundamentals and structural mapping, something that we don't have the opportunity often to get to do in exploration, like we do a lot of mapping, but here I can be exposed to some great outcrops and be, really be amongst like-minded Geologists and Structural Geologists that I can really learn a lot from. The best part about this course has been having the opportunity to spend time in a world class gold province that I previously hadn't had the opportunity to do so. And, to be amongst professors who really know this terrain you know, better than anyone and being able to see some of the best outcrops around the area and get a feel for the stratigraphy, and really look through, work through the stratigraphy from the base to the top of the stratigraphy and relate that back to where you see mineralisation and how that can relate back to the exploration, exploration mapping and looking for new targets. When I go back to work as an Exploration Geologist, I can use what I've learnt during this course, to apply it to finding new exploration targets and understanding, having a better understanding of what the structural controls are on mineralisation and using the tools that I've gained through the week to be able to look at an outcrop and understand what the features are and take the information and then apply that to making models and understanding where exactly, - the implications it has for, for looking for new ore deposits. The program is held in extremely high regard, not only by the participants, the alumni of the course, but by senior managers within industry. They like to see their people going back, up-skilling, putting their hand up for personal development, and at the same time they see the benefits flow back into the company so it's really a very good program all out. The program has been incredibly successful, and it's a tremendous opportunity for students to obtain skillsets that are directly relevant to the minerals industry. I wish they had the program when I was a student.