Site Visit Puts the “Cool” in Cooljarloo

Students were intrigued by the site and interested in what its employees had to say about their work.

Our Cooljarloo Mine recently hosted students from Merredin College for a site tour, lunch, and Q&A session with our team. The 24 students and four teachers traveled 400 kilometers (~250 miles) as part of a four-day school camp with the theme of ‘Outback to Turquoise Coast – A Geological Journey.’ The camp explored and linked the geological, biological, chemical, and physical aspects of the area.

As part of their STEM CoRE specialist course, the mine visit exposed students to real-life examples of extraction, processing, rehabilitation, as well as career insights – putting what they were learning in the classroom into a valuable experience.

Science teacher Debbie Cartwright said the class enjoyed the informative tour and that it supported the students in their learning journey, providing them with information and consolidating their understanding.

“It ticked lots of boxes covering biology, geology, physics, business operations, and students were able to make links to machinery, engineering, and safety,” she said. “I had students comment on how interesting it was with career opportunities and something they are now considering as a future opportunity.”

Dave Netherway, maintenance manager, inducted the students and spoke about safety being our number one priority. Steve Westerhuis, production supervisor, gave an overview of the operations, before jumping on the bus with the students and conducting a site tour of the mine. Sarah Broomfield, senior environmental rehabilitation specialist, joined the tour to chat about our rehabilitation process. 

The group then joined Bronte Currie, apprentice electrician; Montana John-Furnace, trainee- business administration; Keller Nunn, surveyor; and Dylan Lema, contractor surveyor, for an informal career talk, Q&A, and networking session over a BBQ lunch.

While in the area, the students also got to experience its coastal attractions, enjoying sandboarding on the dunes in Cervantes, paddle boarding, swimming, and fishing – all unique attractions close to our sites.

Tronox proudly partners with local schools in our community in multiple ways, including:

• Donations to purchase STEM-related equipment
• Career talks and presentations
• Hosting students for work experience
• Site tours
• Support and attendance at graduation ceremonies

Partnering with local schools is an important pillar of Tronox’s community engagement strategy. STEM education is one of our Corporate Social Responsibility Pillars globally, as we are an engineering and science-based business and are eager to share our expertise and resources to advance education in these fields.

In addition to advancing STEM education, partnering with local schools means financial assistance to enhance education outcomes, providing resources many of our small, local schools would otherwise not be able to access, developing talent pipelines in our host communities, and increasing brand awareness. It also allows us to share our expertise and encourage our communities to get to know our business and our teams better.

Based on the feedback (below), it’s clear that the students enjoyed and were enriched by the experience.