BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) Caval Ridge Mine recently came together to celebrate on site to celebrate its 10-year anniversary.
The team held a site tour and Gemba, presentations from members of the Caval Ridge team, lunch and a commemorative signing of the 10-year celebration dragline bucket.
General Manager Caval Ridge Mine Justin Doherty said the day was a huge success and it was important that the team shared some of the site’s history, but also celebrated the achievement of turning 10.
“I’m new to Caval Ridge, but I’m not new to the mining industry and I’d like to acknowledge how impressed I’ve been with what I’ve seen here so far.
“The team here are dedicated and work together to meet our targets and deliver on our commitments.”
Justin said that he was impressed by the way the team came together – displaying their high standards for showing up to safely work and the pride they hold in being part of the Caval team.
“I’ve been told the site had its hurdles to overcome initially, because of the geology of the site, including thin seams.
“Today, Caval has evolved to be a critically important mine within the BMA portfolio and in FY2024 achieved an annual production of 6.5 million tonnes (on a 100 per cent basis) of metallurgical coal which has been exported to markets, including India and South-East Asia.”
Congratulations to Caval Ridge on achieving its important 10-year milestone!
Earlier in the year, two very successful Family Days were organised to showcase to those closest to the Caval Ridge team members what they do every day.
More than 580 friends and family members travelled to site to join in on the festivities. There were three pre-arranged events to keep everyone entertained, including a pit tour concluding at Ramp 50 where a special platform was erected so visitors could safely watch the draglines at work.
A visit to the maintenance shed gave guests an opportunity to see machinery up close and personal. There was a colouring in competition for the kids and a brightly painted out-of-use commemorative dragline bucket – ready for signing by the attendees to mark the occasion.
Plenty of family memories were made and captured while people posed for photos in front of the shiny dozer’s blade, the haul truck and the giant mining tyre, painted with the words, ‘Caval Ridge Family Day’.
The final part of the days included a visit to the Buffel Park Accommodation Village, to give family and friends a chance to see where their loved ones spent their time in their home away from home.
Caval is also grateful to the countless volunteer helpers, tour guides and bus drivers who helped the day run smoothly.
To mark the occasion of Caval Ridge turning ten, we asked a couple of the Caval Ridge Team members to share their experiences.
David Kerr
How long have you worked at Caval Ridge?
I have been at Caval Ridge since 2013 as part of the original intake. We were referred to as the “Pioneers” of Caval being the first ones there.
What is your role?
When I first started at Caval I was employed as a Diesel Fitter in the workshop. I was the step-up supervisor and in a short time I was put into the supervisor role. I spent a couple of years as Superintendent and now I am in a Coordinator role. I have tried a job share roster while I have been at Caval for a couple but am back full time again now.
What is your favourite memory while working at Caval Ridge?
My favourite memory would be when we first moved into the main workshop. We started in a temporary facility doing our maintenance on the dirt and working from shipping containers and an igloo as our workshop. Then we moved to our purpose built workshop. It was like Christmas. Everything was new, the shop was massive, and everything was just for us. It felt like we spent months unwrapping everything that was purchased and making this our new home. We could not believe all of this was just for us.
What do you think makes working at Caval great?
We have always had a “can do” attitude. Our site from the beginning was about figuring out how we can do it rather that why we can’t. There are always new challenges that come our way, but we adapt and work our way through them.
What is an achievement since Caval commenced operations that you were proud to be a part of?
I think the amount that we have grown since we have started. We started with about 12 on our crew and we looked after all the tracked, mobile and ancillary equipment. Hard to believe when we look at how much equipment we have now and the number of maintainers we have in the shop now!
Christine Burton
How long have you worked at Caval Ridge?
I have worked at Caval since June 2013, back when the old farmhouse was still in place on the north side (horse pit) of the pit, when our first job was to pull down the old wire fences and do scrub pulling with the dozers.
What is your role?
I have mainly been in the drilling department and was one of the first females passed out on the Pit Viper drill rigs and D10 & D11 dozers on site, I am now on a secondment in the site systems team.
What is your favourite memory while working at Caval Ridge?
Our original crew adopted a rather large kangaroo ‘Big Red’ as our team mascot, and he would ‘supervise’ us as we went about our tasks.
What do you think makes working at Caval great?
I think what makes working at Caval great is the people and the culture of friendships and encouragement that we forged back at the start, as a lot of the Caval originals were new to mining and living away FIFO we forged strong connections and have carried that through the worksite, and to Buffel Park.
What is an achievement since Caval commenced operations that you were proud to be a part of? I think our biggest achievement so far across site is that we have built a productive, profitable, work site from scratch, and made our site very competitive in the BMA space and a place where people want to work.
