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AngloGold Ashanti Australia

4.2
  • 1,000 - 50,000 employees

Luke Dollar

The coolest thing is the use of 3D visualisation software to analyse gold targets. The ability to analyse the mine scale geology in 3D is awesome.

What's your job about?

AngloGold Ashanti is an international gold focused mining and exploration company. My role as part of the AngloGold Ashanti Australia exploration team is to extend mine life and explore potential mining opportunities close to our existing operations.

To extend mine life and explore for new potential mining opportunities requires one important objective… Find gold!

All day-to-day tasks filter into the overall goal of finding more gold. My workflow for the swing can vary from keeping track of drill rigs, logging diamond core, ensuring quality data return from diamond core samples and geological interpretation using 3D visualisation software. We must ask “what are the rocks telling us? Does this new data have any implications on finding gold in the future?” Etc.

The biggest thrill is always exploring new areas. Each drill hole tests new potential gold targets and reveals new geological information about that area. You definitely need an optimistic attitude in exploration, however, the potential to find hidden gold beneath the surface can easily turn a pessimist into an optimist.

What's your background?

Growing up in Perth, sport played a huge part in my life. Every day sport was all I surrounded myself with after school. If I were to go back in time and tell my younger self that I would end up studying Geology after High School, I certainly would have been shocked. That is not to say those sporting days were to no prevail, I do find a lot of transferrable skills and attitudes in what I do today.

The ability to work effectively in a team is incredibly important. No matter how good you are, a team will always outperform an individual. Another is when learning a new skill, accept that you will not be brilliant from the start. In order to master a new skill, it requires repetition and a solid understanding of the end goal. Just like sport, you work with a team (in most cases) to achieve victory and the best way to win is to practice. Each individual must practice to better themselves and if they can transfer that self-development into the game along with others in the team, the is a great chance of victory. 

Although sport was not the reason I chose Geology as a career path, it was an indirect catalyst. My love for the outdoors and travelling to remote places always fascinated me, so when looking for an outdoor type of career path during year 12 I stumbled across Geology. I went with it and now I work with an awesome team, finding gold.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

Yes. No matter what your background, Geology can definitely be a career path for many. If you enjoy science, Geology intrigues you, and you are willing to learn and work within a team, you can be a Geologist!

What's the coolest thing about your job?

The coolest thing is the use of 3D visualisation software to analyse gold targets. The ability to analyse the mine scale geology in 3D is awesome. Using multiple layers of data to come up with new ideas and theories on existing targets always generates quality conversation within the team.

What are the limitations of your job?

A lot of time is spent away from family and friends. You do get used to working in very remote locations for long periods of time, however, it can be daunting at first. A few birthdays will be missed but you do have plenty of time on break to catch up and spend time with those close to you.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...

  • Enjoy yourself
  • Find a good routine
  • Network – get out and meet people around University and Industry.