OREANDA-NEWS. July 10, 2015. Muswellbrook High School students received a sneak peek into the mining industry after completing work experience with Bengalla mine.

The year 10 students gained an insight into a broad range of disciplines including maintenance, production, survey, administration and human resources at the open cut coal mine.

Muswellbrook High School year 10 student Imogen O’Leary said “One of the most highly anticipated events in the school calendar for year 10 is ‘work experience week’.

“Coming into work experience, especially in a workplace [like Bengalla] where a set of highly developed skills are required to work there, we all thought that a lot of our week would be spent observing, rather than actually completing tasks.

“We were very quickly proved wrong and completed tasks such as studying rock formations, completing damage reviews, general office duties, changing filters, interviewing at community events, and entering information into spreadsheets.

“After interviewing all of my fellow students, I am able to conclude that we all had a fantastic time, would all recommend work experience at Bengalla to other students, and we would all come back again. We wish to extend our thanks to everyone at Bengalla for accepting us into your workplace and making us feel very welcome.”

Bengalla general manager, Operations, Jo-Anne Scarini said “Bengalla was pleased to welcome students from our local high school to experience the variety of career options a mine site has to offer.

“Work experience programmes provide an opportunity for students to develop professional skills and fine-tune their career aspirations. It also provides Bengalla with an opportunity to gain insights into what young people are learning in their studies and tap into a pool of future talent so we can continue to build capacity in the Hunter Valley.

“Work experience programmes are just one of the ways Bengalla participates in the education, career development and vocational training of young people in our community.”