The mining industry is rapidly developing in Mongolia. Rapid development means many things, encompassing both technological progress and speed.
Today, Oyu Tolgoi represents for Mongolians the modern mining industry and progress of development.
Highly competent engineers and technicians work using the latest equipment and technology. Tha success of any organisation starts from having competent staff.
Therefore, Oyu Tolgoi develops its employees starting from graduation according to company policy and goals.
One way of achieving this is through the Graduate Programme. This selects new Mongolian graduates from national and foreign universities and enrols them in a two year programme. In two years they will become fully qualified and capable engineers.
The graduates are enrolled in intensive work practice, professional training, lectures and English language courses, relevant to their qualifications. The main feature of the programme is a two year work placement at a Rio Tinto mine in another country.
After that, they become Oyu Tolgoi employees. Today there are very few examples of companies developing their employees in such manner, making the programme an example to other companies.
The success of the programme depends on the graduates. With good, talented engineers, the programme is hugely effective. One young engineer enrolled in the programme is R.Erdenechimeg. She is a native of Erdenet town in Orkhon aimag . She was always familiar with Erdenet mine, but until the 8th grade she dreamt of becoming a doctor, not an engineer.
But then her thinking changed suddenly and she decided to become an engineer and work in her native town at the Erdenet mine. In 2007 she enrolled in Orkhon aimag’s branch of Technology school of the University of Science and Technology, graduating in 2011 as a metallurgical engineer. At the time of graduation, she read about Oyu Tolgoi’s Graduate Programme and together with classmates went to Ulaanbaatar to find detailed information about the programme. After applying, she qualified for the programme’s requirements and signed a contract to join Oyu Tolgoi in November.
While many of her classmates were interested in the programme, R.Erdenechimeg was the only one who successfully applied and met the programme requirements.
She says: “The Oyu Tolgoi Graduate Programme has a high qualification criteria. I am from Erdenet, so I studied Russian so I hoped that if I failed my exams it would only be because of my lack of English. The programme develops graduates over a two year period in every aspect. First they start with mine safety and then we learn every aspect of operation through intensive training courses.
“During the programme, I was enrolled in a four month English language course. Then I was placed at Australia’s Northparkes mine for a year.”
She hadn’t been abroad before, so living in Australia was really interesting to her. She was particularly interested in Northparkes mine safety and discipline She also found the Australian people to be friendly and polite.
As well as working in the Northparkes concentrator plant, she was also introduced to the local town and the customs and culture of local people.
She says that she learned during every part of her time at Northparkes. While she was taught theoretical knowledge in the university, at work she encountered new issues every day. She had to solve them and learn new ways of doing things. The engineers and technicians at the mine shared their knowledge and skills generously and tried their best to explain everything.
R.Erdenechimeg continues: “I had work practice at Northparkes for one year and returned last May to work at Oyu Tolgoi. My year there was divided into three months periods during which I worked at different departments.
In the first three months I worked with production operators, then in the laboratory together with metallurgists. It was very effective.”
Working at Mongolia’s largest mine, she also knows more about Erdenet than most of her co-workers. She can compare many issues about the two mines including their development, land rehabilitation and community relations. She says about her school: “Our Technological school education was very good and the requirements were high. We benefitted from the closeness of the Erdenet mine. Our teachers mainly came from Erdenet mine, so what we learned was very good”.
R.Erdenechimeg’s goal is to master her profession well and become one of the best engineers in Oyu Tolgoi’s concentrator plant. She also dreams of working as a specialist in other large mining projects around the world. Her goal will surely be fulfilled because a long, long road lies ahead in her young life.
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