Shared stories. Bright futures. What's the connection?

Media statement

McArthur River Mine (MRM) workers are sharing their stories with Borroloola School students to help inspire them into bright futures.

The Youth Mentoring Network involves students meeting with MRM mentors, gaining an introduction to the workplace and village life and participating in activities on site.

The first sessions were held on site before travel and social distancing restrictions came into place. These sessions were about meeting new people and learning about life in the village.

“The mine site is a very different environment for anyone new to get used to, so feeling comfortable and safe in the camp village is the first step of the program,” said Carrie Bendeich, Senior Advisor Community Relations and Corporate Affairs and coordinator for the MRM Youth Mentoring Network.

The mentors, who had volunteered their lunch hour, represented many work areas across the operations including mining maintenance, engineering, supply, environment, safety, and metallurgy.

Students were paired up with MRM Mentors and guided through an introduction activity, followed by lunch.

The mentors and mentees asked questions about each other from the worksheet, before introducing their new friend to a larger group, allowing the students to practice communicating in front a group of people. The worksheets are then turned into posters for the students to take with them.

“We’ve put them up around our classroom and they’re inspiring the kids,” said Borroloola School secondary teacher Leo Boudib.

“We found that the mentors and mentees had a lot in common, including camping, fishing and caring for country. It’s really important that the students get to meet people working at MRM so that they will be more comfortable applying for jobs after school.”

“I feel proud of the students, having had this opportunity to broaden their minds and start thinking about their future. Hopefully it made them think about why school is important for them and their future,” said Assistant Principal Maria Pyro.

The partnership with Borroloola School aims to generate interest among school students in participating in mining industry and developing career pathway plans.

Download a PDF version of this release.

For further information, please contact:

Media

Tracy Jones
m: +61 418 251 774
e: Tracy Jones

Notes for editors

Glencore

Glencore is one of the world’s largest global diversified natural resource companies and a major producer and marketer of more than 60 commodities. The Group's operations comprise over 150 mining and metallurgical sites and oil production assets.

With a strong footprint in over 35 countries in both established and emerging regions for natural resources, Glencore's industrial activities are supported by a global network of more than 30 marketing offices.

Glencore's customers are industrial consumers, such as those in the automotive, steel, power generation, battery manufacturing and oil sectors. We also provide financing, logistics and other services to producers and consumers of commodities. Glencore’s companies employ around 160,000 people, including contractors.

Glencore is proud to be a member of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights and the International Council on Mining and Metals. We are an active participant in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

McArthur River Mining

McArthur River Mining (MRM) is located in the Northern Territory approximately 970 kilometres south-east from Darwin and 60 kilometres south-west of its closest town of Borroloola. MRM mines one of the world’s largest zinc and lead deposits. Established as an underground operation in 1995, MRM converted to open pit mining in 2006. MRM produces zinc and lead in concentrates which are primarily exported through Bing Bong loading facility on the southern coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The current mine life extends to 2036.

The mine provides direct employment to about 1,000 people, including contractors. In 2018, we spent $84.7 million on wages, $59.4 million on capital projects, $321.4 million on goods and services – much of which we sourced locally – and $1.8 million on community investment projects.