What most won’t ever see is the hundreds of hours that go into making each competition and the scenarios faced by participants into a reality – and the countless hours teams put in preparing to compete. 

“The CME Mine Rescue Committee runs year-round. As soon as we finish one competition, we roll straight into organising the next one,” Daniel Goss explains. 

“We might spend 50 to 100 hours designing the event, completing risk assessments or finding adjudicators – people who are experienced in mines rescue who can assist in scoring and facilitating. 

“As we work towards an event, it’s monthly meetings to start with which become weekly; but in between those meetings the competition event managers are always working on the execution of the event 

“There are eight scenarios in a competition, so when you multiply that by each team, there are thousands upon thousands of hours and millions of dollars of people’s time in-kind and also put in by the host mine to have these competitions up and running.” 

Goss is particularly well-placed to assess what goes into a mine rescue competition, both from the perspective of a competitor and as an organiser. 

A Superintendent at Gold Fields Australia’s St Ives Gold Mine south of Kambalda, Goss originally got into emergency response work and competitions when he started out in mining at BHP Billiton in Leinster in 2007. 

After participating in competitions in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013, a move to a full-time role in emergency services with Gold Fields coincided with a shift into the organisational side of rescue competitions. 

Earlier this year he oversaw the team skills event at the Goldfields Surface Mine Rescue Competition and in November he did the same at the Underground Mine Rescue Competition being hosted by Evolution Mining. 

Disciplines put to the test during competitions include firefighting, hazchem response, first aid, team skills, vehicle extrication, rope rescue, incident management, confined space rescue and theory. 

“There is no way we could deliver that level of training on site,” Goss said. 

“We use the competitions to benchmark and make sure that if there was an emergency on site that teams can effect a rescue if required. 

“We don’t have the resources to set up scenarios on site like these [competition] ones, which are so realistic and have so many moving parts, like casualties with wounds to treat. 

“There’s also the pressure that gets applied during competition. We’ve got no way to test that on site in the same manner, so competitions are invaluable for that.” 

Goss has seen plenty of changes in his nearly 15 years involved in rescue competitions. 

In terms of team demographics, the gender make-up has shifted in a reflection of the growing participation of women in mining. According to Goss, most teams now include female members. 

The incorporation of more technology, including virtual reality, could be another development that is on the horizon. 

From his own perspective, Goss is relishing his ongoing role in the organisation of competitions. 

“Moving from being a team member to an event manager and adjudicator has probably been one of the most rewarding things for me,” he said. 

“Seeing how different teams attack the same scenario differently and what their thought processes are. 

“You probably learn more as an event manager than as a team member because you see those same scenarios executed in very different ways. 

“We also get to bounce off people who have been doing this for 30 or 40 years and voluntarily give up their time to support people like myself who are trying to manage events. 

“It’s an amazing group of people.” 

The post ‘Thousands of hours’: what goes into making a mine rescue competition happen appeared first on The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia.

The WA mining services company, which operates iron ore mines in the Pilbara and Yilgarn cratons, announced the trial of the autonomous road trains late in 2021. 

The successful testing of the technology at Mineral Resources’ Yilgarn operations in the first quarter of 2022 involved three triple-trailer road trains carrying loads of 300 tonnes. 

Only the lead road train in the platoon requires a driver in the cabin.

“It’s been an exciting journey over the past year and we’ve now achieved a world-first platoon of three autonomous road trains, which is a game changer for us,” Mike Grey, Mineral Resources’ Chief Executive – Mining Services, said. 

“It’s an extremely proud moment to see our autonomous project grow from desktop concept to iron ore reality so quickly.” 

The project has been undertaken in partnership with autonomous solution specialists Hexagon, with a view to “live” introduction to enable pit-to-port capabilities at Mineral Resources’ Ashburton hub project. 

The autonomous road trains are planned to be used in platoons of four, with a driver occupying the front vehicle. They will not be travelling on public roads.

“As we get ready for the Ashburton Hub Iron Ore Project and look to unlock stranded tonnes of iron ore, our autonomous road trains will be the vital link between the pit and the port,” Grey said. 

 “As the first of its kind in the world, it opens up new opportunities for us, as we can trial the technology ourselves before offering it to our Tier 1 customers.” 

Grey told ABC radio there were several advantages to the autonomous haulage solution, including the removal of safety risks associated with driver fatigue, the ability to seamlessly service a variety of satellite pits that can shift over time (this is a challenge for more traditional rail haulage) and the potential to unlock deposits that could previously have been considered economically unviable. The latter, he said, could ultimately create new jobs in mining.

Automation has been a key area of transformation for the WA mining and resources sector over the past decade.  

Rio Tinto’s autonomous heavy haul railway system – dubbed by the company as the “world’s largest robot” – was in 2020 one of six WA winners of Engineers Australia’s Engineering Excellence Award, and the only WA finalist for the Sir William Hudson Award recognising the best engineering project in the country.  

FMG has introduced a fleet of driverless utes at its Christmas Creek operations. The on-board automation system allows the driverless vehicles to make more than 10,000 annual short trips to collect equipment and parts which otherwise would have to have been performed by maintenance team members.  

Meanwhile, the WA School of Mines in Kalgoorlie-Boulder appointed Dr Robert Solomon in August 2020 to be the institution’s first ever Professor of Practice in Mining Automation and Data Analysis. Dr Solomon’s appointment came in partnership with FMG, where he continues to work as Manager of Operational Duties.  

Hexagon is a leading Australian provider of data-based and autonomous solutions to mining challenges – including those around safety.  

The company is the Australian installer of Guardvant technology, which uses camers in mining equipment to monitor eye movements of operators and recognise when they are suffering from fatigue. 

The post World-first autonomous road train milestone in WA appeared first on The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia.

As well as bragging rights to working at the world’s largest hard-rock lithium mine, the team at Greenbushes can also boast of an outdoor office in Western Australia’s picturesque South West.

Mining might be front and centre of Talison’s day-to-day operations, but the lithium producer underlined its commitment to the broader community when devastating bushfires swept through the scenic countryside earlier this year.

Possibly the State’s hottest summer on record, WA’s horror bushfire season came to a head on February 5 when four out-of-control fires simultaneously hit Bridgetown – 17km south of Greenbushes – as well as Denmark, Shackleton and Wickepin.

Talison safety and emergency response coordinator Tim Hingston was among the first at the face of the raging inferno.

The long-standing miner, who also serves on the Greenbushes Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade, described the hot and dry conditions leading up to the fire as a “nightmare”.

“As far as bushfires go the perfect storm – 40-degree heat, 40-knot winds, middle of summer and the bush was tinder dry,” he said.

“It was a hot, windy, terrible day. It was a nightmare.

“Initially we were right at the fire trying to stop it from spreading.

“We were one of the first brigades on the ground and it was like we were at Ground Zero then it just took off.

“The wind was so intense; the ember attack was one to two kilometres ahead.

“There was little we could do so we went from fighting the fire face to asset protection where we sat at the edge of Bridgetown and waited for it to come.

“There we made sure the fire died at a firebreak and attacked any hop over of embers.”

While no lives were lost, a nightmare it was.

The Bridgetown blaze burnt more than 2200 ha in 24 hours destroying native vegetation, infrastructure and even some homes.

But the collateral damage could have been far worse had it not been for the volunteer firefighters who toiled overnight to contain the fire’s spread.

That included a cohort from Talison who joined Hingston in downing tools to tackle the blaze.

As well as lending staff to the cause, Talison sent in some heavy machinery to cut firebreaks and their contractors SG Mining chipped in with some water carts.

That was just days after Talison opened the doors of its construction mining camp to weary volunteer firefighters who had arrived from all parts of the State to fight a fire that had started in Kirup and was threatening lives and homes.

With more than 150 firefighters accommodated and fed at the camp over several days, Talison’s contribution saw the lithium miner awarded a Certificate of Distinction by the State Government on June 30.

State Emergency Services and Environment Minister Stephen Dawson who travelled to Greenbushes to present the certificate said the company had played an active role supporting emergency services in the South-West for many years.

“I want to thank Talison for all the support it provided in keeping the community safe on such a challenging weekend for the State,” he said.

“All the volunteer firefighters who brought the inferno under control can be incredibly proud of their brave efforts.”

Dawson’s sentiments were echoed by WA Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm who said DFES had developed a strong relationship with the miner since signing a Memorandum of Understanding in 2020 to formally recognise the Talison Emergency Response Team (ERT) Fire Brigade.

“Since then, the Talison brigade has provided important support to the Greenbushes Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade and other volunteer emergency services groups in the district,” he said.

Talison general manager operations Craig Dawson said while it was pleasing to receive a nod of appreciation, the company had not done it for the recognition.

“We don’t see ourselves as separate to the community, we see ourselves as part of the community,” he said.

“The majority of our employees are engaged from within the local community itself with 75 per cent of our employees living within a 30-minute drive.

“We don’t see ourselves as separate, we see ourselves as adjunct and that’s either direct assistance or letting our people be a part of the community efforts in responding to things.

“They do a lot of training on site with our emergency response teams, but there is also a lot who are members of local bushfire brigades and other emergency services such as St John Ambulance.

“We have an approach where if they are needed and they are required to be called upon then we certainly make them available to go and do that civic duty and help out in the community.”

Craig Dawson said he had admiration for the people prepared to put to put themselves into volunteer emergency service roles.

“There’s a level of risk that comes with those roles when you’re doing it,” he said.

“From my perspective I roundly applaud them from wanting to do that and wanting to be a part of it and wanting to help the people that are down in this part of the world.

“We had some of our employees directly impacted – certainly by the Bridgetown bushfire – and to be able to highlight what our people are doing to assist from my perspective is fantastic.”

With 27 years under his belt at Talison and with most of that time spent as the company’s emergency response coordinator, Hingston said he enjoyed the camaraderie of the role.

“There’s something there.  As much as at times it can be scary there’s certainly a camaraderie,” he said.

“It’s just something you do.  You’re out there, you’re relying on each other and that can mean a lot.”

The post The WA mine with a dedicated (and decorated) fire brigade appeared first on The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia.

They can be thousands of kilometres away from where those workers usually reside, and the colleagues they share living and eating facilities with can come from any walk of life.  

But there’s a genuine and extremely important sense of “family” to life on site, one that’s being tapped into by Resourceful Mind, a new peer support-based mental health initiative for the WA mining and resources sector. 

The product of a long-term partnership between Lifeline WA and the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA (CME), Resourceful Mind aims to identity go-to people among on-site communities – Minders as they eventually become known – and provide them with the training they need to navigate challenging conversations with colleagues and, if necessary, steer them towards extra assistance.  

Roy Hill truck operator Maria Robinson was among the 120 Minders to graduate from a successful pilot program that kicked off in 2021. 

“My roster is two weeks on and two weeks off – and that means six months of my year is spent in one world and six months is spent in another,” she says.  

“You have two sets of family, those on site and those at home. And for those with little children, it’s six months out of the year that they are away and missing their development, which is tough.  

“We start work at 5am and you can’t really be making calls to family at that point. We’re not home until at least 6pm or 7pm, and by then of course you’re exhausted.  

“But on the other side of things, the family that we have on site is so important. And I think at Roy Hill because it’s just one big mine site [in the Pilbara], there are so many people that you almost get to choose the types of personalities that you want to fit in with – which is a luxury.” 

Robinson said mental health has been a long-time passion after experiencing bullying in her own childhood. 

“I don’t think I know anybody that hasn’t been affected in terms of mental health at some point in time,” Robinson said. 

“If there’s anything that I could do to help friends and family, I would do. Over the years, that’s just been something of mine, having a bit of compassion. 

“I think a lot of people probably don’t take time just to listen – and also to really care – when they ask the question ‘are you OK?’. 

“Resourceful Mind doesn’t just help the person who needs to talk, it also helps us as Minders to broaden our understanding. 

“If you are someone who is compassionate and a good listener, this program really puts that into practice.” 

‘When I’ve got a problem, I speak to Bob’

Resourceful Mind has its foundations in the work CME and Lifeline WA have been undertaking in partnership since a Parliamentary Inquiry into the mental health impacts of fly-in, fly-out work in 2014 and 2015. 

It was clear that there were mental health challenges specific to the mining and resources sector – particularly for remote sites – and that a tailored solution was needed, with feedback highlighting the potential advantages of a peer support-based program. 

“We realised that Lifeline WA provided a lot of products around training but none of them were bespoke to fly-in, fly-out workers,” Lifeline WA Chief Executive Lorna MacGregor said. 

“All of our training had really been designed for boardrooms and one of the most purchased training workshops was mental health first aid, which was two days of in-classroom training. 

“When we went out to sites and asked frontline staff about their mental health experiences and how they would go about learning to improve their wellbeing and that of others, all of them said that if they had a problem they would speak to ‘Bob.’ And every single shift had a ‘Bob.’ 

“The other things they told us was that they didn’t like ‘death by Powerpoint’ and ‘shiny pants.’ 

“That was really the start of what Resourceful Mind has become and what underpins it. We engaged a consultant who specialised in human-centred design and they worked with the sector and worked with us and we created the program.” 

The Resourceful Mind pilot involved CME member companies Roy Hill, Mineral Resources, Woodside and Simcoa, and was the subject of a detailed research project by Edith Cowan University which deemed it to be fit-for-purpose and psychologically safe for Minders. 

The program has been refined to include five core training sessions delivered by Lifeline WA’s crisis supporters that can be completed over a three-month period, a variety of elective e-learning topics, regular follow-up group coaching and wellbeing sessions, and skills development modules based on challenging and relevant topics, such as domestic and family violence, mental illness, gambling and sexual harassment and assault. 

A growing group of Minders

There are currently 270 aspiring Minders in training, with more set to come as Resourceful Mind is rolled out more widely across the WA mining and resources sector. 

“What makes Minders particularly effective in fly-in, fly-out environments is the strength those environments have in creating communities,” MacGregor said. 

“We know that if you can leverage a community, it’s a protective factor for mental health and wellbeing.  

“One of the unique things about Resourceful Mind is that on top of Minders doing the training and having access to additional skills development, they also have a minimum of four times a year where they undertake coaching sessions – where a group of people come together to talk about their skills, any problems they might be having and to ensure their wellbeing. 

“They do that online and one of the unintended benefits of the program has been that participants now feel they are part of a broader group of Minders across the sector. 

“So if a Minder has had difficulty with a particular situation, our Lifeline WA crisis supporters have almost undoubtedly had a similar situation and can share professional support. 

“But then they also have the support of peers who might say ‘I handled that this way’ or ‘perhaps you could do this’.” 

CME Manager of Health, Safety and People Laila Nowell said Resourceful Mind had the capability to be employed at any site, irrespective of whether the workforce was FIFO, drive-in drive-out, residential or a combination thereof. 

She said the program was an important addition to the wide range of mental health and wellbeing initiatives already being undertaken by WA mining and resources operations. 

“We believe Resourceful Mind is a really valuable tool given it has been specifically designed for our sector,” Nowell said. 

“But it’s also important to note that it’s not intended to be a one-stop shop for the mental health of the workforce. 

“In many instances, Minders will steer their colleagues towards further professional assistance. The program also complements a significant amount of ongoing work in this space. 

“In recent years, and particularly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen mining and resources companies finding innovative ways to facilitate positive mental outcomes. 

“This includes increasing bandwidth and data allowances on site to facilitate better connection to home, providing confidential access to online or over-the-phone support, community building initiatives such as movie nights or fitness classes, and ensuring appropriately trained people are available on site, whether that be health and wellbeing advisers, psychologists or mental health first aiders.” 

‘Not everyone is an extrovert’

Like Robinson, Mark Handyside – a specialist in haulage projects and contracts – was one of a 79-strong contingent at Roy Hill who became Minders as part of the Resourceful Mind pilot program. 

He said that although companies such as Roy Hill went to great lengths to help workers socialise and feel comfortable on site, some people may initially feel more comfortable engaging one-on-one with Minders. 

“If you’ve got one or two people on site that you’re friendly with, that you can meet up with and discuss stuff, that’s great,” Handyside said.  

“But if you don’t have that, it can become a bit isolating. Not everyone is extroverted or has a good social network and those are the people who are probably most at risk.  

“It’s important to have the ability to recognise when people may need some support – whether it’s someone who is usually social and well-connected but is withdrawing, or people that are new on site and not involved in social activities.  

“The Minder training was certainly geared to be able to recognise that behaviour and also prepare you to have the conversations after that.” 

Handyside said he had spoken to colleagues about a broad range of topics so far in his time as a Minder – including anxiety over COVID-19, pressures around finances, general loneliness, uncertainty about employment and the loss of loved ones abroad during the pandemic era.  

“Someone who came to talk to me had lost a parent – and because they were in another country, they couldn’t get home to be with family due to the COVID situation,” Handyside explained.  

“For me, it was about listening to them in an understanding way but then also trying to set up something within the company to support them through that. 

“I wasn’t trying to link them with an external agency in this instance, it was about trying to help them with taking some extra time off and encouraging them to use that to help work through a difficult time.” 

Although the Resourceful Mind program has to date operated only been embedded at operations under the CME umbrella, the plan has always been to make it as “open source” and scalable as possible – meaning mining and resources operations of all sizes could use it, and that it could potentially be adapted for other industries. 

To learn more about Resourceful Mind, visit the program website. 

To find out more about how the WA mining and resources sector is innovating now and for the future, visit safersmartercleaner.com.au   

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