Employee spotlight: Lombe Mubanga, Senior Air Quality and Noise Advisor

1. What does your job entail?

My role is complex and exciting. Every day, I am responsible for managing air quality to ensure Environmental Authority conditions are met, and that air quality impacts are minimised in receiving environments.

No two days are the same, and the role is ever-changing. It is an exciting time to be a part of the HSEC team here at Mount Isa Mines.

2. What's the best advice you can give to someone who just started their career?

My advice is simple and effective. Embrace a growth mindset, grow your network, and ensure you always seek to maintain a good work-life balance.

3. What do you love most about your job?

I love that my role always involves interesting and exciting challenges. I am also very lucky that my job allows me to interact and work with a lot of people from other departments to achieve our air quality and noise objectives and goals.

Collaborating and interacting with other departments allows me to understand challenges in a new light and gain new perspectives on problems and solutions.

4. What inspired you to join the team here?

Mount Isa Mines has one of the most intensive air quality monitoring systems of any city in Australia, making it the most ideal place for any air quality enthusiast to further grow their career and make a positive contribution.

Before I began my career with Glencore, I studied a Bachelor of Engineering in Metallurgy. In my final year, I completed a course in Environment Management – and I was hooked. The course emphasised air pollution and control, and highlighted solutions and pathways to improvement, which I found fascinating. I grew up in an area where excessive ambient SO₂ emissions were normal, long before regulations become stringent. We even had a local name for SO₂ emissions – 'senta'! So, I guess you could say that I have a very personal connection to my current role at Mount Isa Mines. 

After my studies, I took a role with Alfred H Knight in Zambia, where I worked on stack emissions testing and metallurgical test work, specifically around flotation and leaching. I then joined First Quantum Minerals in the North Western Province of Zambia as Environmental Officer - Air Quality Monitoring, before moving to Senior Environmental Officer - Monitoring, and finally, Environmental Coordinator - Compliance & Monitoring before I embarked on my journey with Glencore.  

5. Tell us a bit about your family

My wife and I are new parents to an eleven-month-old baby boy.

In April 2023, we arrived from Zambia, North Western Province. My favourite thing about Mount Isa is how welcoming the community has been. It is a friendly town, and often you’ll meet someone you don’t know, and they’ll smile at you and say hi. Another bonus - everything you need is within a few minutes drive!

6. What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my family, backyard gardening and jogging. My wife and I also love trying different foods and exploring new places – we are always up for an adventure!