After transitioning from a career in urban planning to exploring the subterranean world of geoscience in isolated areas, Daniel Moloney recommends the study of Science as the pathway to a wealth of options. “I had some fantastic teachers at Emmanuel,” said Daniel, “especially in the final years. Noel Mugavin was someone in particular whom most of the students had an excellent relationship with. Noel was great to go to for advice, not just related to schooling and education but life in general. He’s still someone who is always nice to bump into at the football and have a chat with when I’m home.”
After completing VCE Daniel took a gap year and worked before studying in 2005. Initially planning on studying Science at Monash, during the gap year Daniel decided to study Urban Planning at RMIT. Daniel studied until 2011, working part time in a few different roles relating to Urban Planning at VicRoads and in state government, as well as in local government with Warrnambool City Council during summer. “During my study at RMIT I had a few friends who were studying science majoring in geosciences and environmental sciences, it probably wasn’t until that stage that I was aware of the career paths involved in geosciences,” said Daniel.
I’d highly recommend people study science, particularly if you are unsure which specific field you would like to work in. Once you begin study and getting a broad base you can choose to specialise.
Daniel had the opportunity to indulge his emerging interest in geosciences in 2011. Working full time at the Mansfield Shire Council, Daniel also opted to study online through Online Universities Australia just to get an understanding of whether or not it was something he wanted to fully commit to. “I really enjoyed the study so in 2013 I returned to study, starting a Science degree at Monash, and continuing to work part time at Mansfield Shire Council. Whilst studying I received a scholarship through Anglo American which ultimately led to starting in a full time capacity upon graduating.”
Daniel started with Anglo American mid 2015 after completing his studies, initially working in exploration before moving into an underground mine geologist role and he recently took up a position in one of Anglo’s open cut mines. Anglo American is a multinational mining company based in Johannesburg, South Africa and London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s largest producer of platinum, with around 40% of world output, as well as being a major producer of diamonds, copper, nickel, iron ore and metallurgical and thermal coal. The company has operations in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and South America.
“My role has changed significantly from open cut to underground,” said Daniel. “Underground would involve going underground around 3-4 times a week to map what has been mined, mapping any faults, jointing, dikes. Whilst in the office there was a large amount of drilling interpretation from Underground Inseam Drilling, from this you would be able to identify any expected faulting, dykes, seam rolls essentially anything that could inhibit mining or pose a safety risk, or geo-technical risk. Other day-to-day activities involved exploration planning and gas compliance planning - ensuring the gas levels are low enough to mine safely.
Open cut is quite different, most days involve going down into the open cut pits to map any structure, liaising with operators, inspecting coal stockpiles, sampling of coal and overburden material, creating modelled surfaces for blasting that occurs to remove overburden.
What I enjoy most about working as a geologist is there is a great combination of office work and outdoors work, a key part of the role is getting out of the office everyday, the other is variety, there is a great deal of variety not just in day to day work but the field in general. In regards to the field you can work in the operational side as I do as a Mine Geologist, or there is the exploration side of things as well as resource modelling roles. Added to that, different commodities such as gold, copper, zinc, iron ore or a different field of oil and gas and a career in geosciences can lead to work in different fields in essentially every continent on the planet.”
When asked what advice he would give to current Emmanuel students, Daniel said, “I’d highly recommend people study science, particularly if you are unsure which specific field you would like to work in. Once you begin study and getting a broad base you can choose to specialise. In regards to skills within the industry, attention for detail is important - a lot of the work you are involved in can have very serious safety implications. That’s probably more specific to mining than Science in general, but safety and an appreciation of its importance is probably the most important thing for anyone who wants to work in mining.”
