2010: Community focus

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Tags: mining, winter-2012

Briony Coleman, Graduate Diploma in Community Relations, Masters of Community Relations

Briony Coleman

As the first person to graduate from UQ’s Masters in Community Relations for the Resource Sector, Briony Coleman is well on track to a successful career in the mining industry.

Since August last year, she has been working at a gold mine in northern Nevada, USA, as the senior environmental coordinator with Newmont Mining Corporation.

In this role, she oversees compliance to regulatory requirements and conformance to company standards, including monitoring and reporting in a range of management areas such as water, waste and chemicals.

“I love the wide range of tasks involved in my job, from sampling in the field to developing management systems, from chemical anaylsis to compiling and analysing data for reporting purposes,” Ms Coleman said.

“I am also able to work with communities and around the areas which we operate and have had the opportunity to work in a number
of different locations across the globe.”

Ms Coleman has previously worked on several mine sites in the Northern Territory and the Western Australian goldfields, and also Newmont’s Perth-based regional office.

She said making the move to the US was both a challenging and rewarding step in her career.

“The biggest learning curve since starting work in the US is the different regulatory requirements in the environmental sector,” she said.

“I’ve also noticed that in the community relations area – from my past experience in the Northern Territory and Western Australia – there is less focus in the US on Indigenous communities.

“This is mostly a function of the relative density of populations in mining areas within the country, and more of a focus on ‘small town’ and agricultural communities that may be impacted by mining operations.”

Ms Coleman said her masters degree enhanced her skills in communication and working with communities.

“The degree promotes to the resource sector and other industries the importance of community relations,” she said.

“It also gives both an Australian and international perspective, and educates you on both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities within these perspectives.”

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