Contract mine surveyor in the Kalgoorlie region.

While working as the Senior Open Pit Mine Surveyor at Norton Goldfields I supervised a small team of surveyors and we covered all aspects of the surface operations as well as the mine production. I had the opportunity to train and mentor numerous junior team members and new starters in my time at Norton. I am consistently looking to improve procedures to increase productivity, efficiency and safety and researching new and improved technologies to present forward to the company.

While working at Norton as a mine surveyor I have been lucky enough to get exposure to both surface and underground operations. However I have spent little time underground (approx. 7 months) and the majority of my time at the surface operations. It's a small team of about 5 surface/open pit surveyors, covering all of their mining tenements. I have generally run all survey matters (working a back to back roster with another surveyor) at our satellite pits, under the guidance of the senior or chief surveyor when needed. I have also been tasked with miscellaneous exploration projects. My daily survey duties include various design set-outs, ensuring the pit is mined to design, data collection and wall stability monitoring. Part of my role also includes the responsibility of reporting EOM volumes for both the pit and ROM pad. At Norton I have predominately worked with the Trimble survey equipment and the Surpac software program. I have also had the responsibility of training and mentoring numerous junior team members and new starters.

After completing my studies I continued on working with Norton as a Graduate Surveyor. I learnt the finer details of my job role and became confident in my abilities as a surveyor and became competent in running an open pit operation.

I started at Norton Goldfields in 2011 as a vacation student gaining experience in my chosen field of study. I continued working here on a casual/part time basis while I completed my studies at WASM. Here I learnt the ins and outs of surveying, general mining and how the survey department fit into operations.