Mining is in Ella-Luci Milfull (Lulu)’s blood. Lulu’s mum worked in mining before Lulu was born, her godmother was the first female general manager at BHP and her dad has worked in the mining industry for the last 27 years.
When Lulu was growing up, she spent time living in Groote Eylandt, Tieri, Moranbah and Mackay while her parents worked in mining.
“Moranbah was where I spent six years of my childhood, and honestly, it was the best. Growing up there as a kid is something I wouldn’t change for the world; I couldn’t fathom anything different. And I think that’s where my love for the industry really started,” she said.
“As a kid I wanted to do something in the health field but quickly realised that wasn’t for me. I always found myself coming back to rocks, geology and the environment. I remember Dad driving us from Moranbah to Mackay and he would point out the different species of grass and trees, he would bring back rocks, bird feathers or a piece of coal from site and give it to me. It is his passion and willingness to share that really influenced me.”
So, it is no surprise that Lulu enrolled in a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) specialising in civil engineering and majoring in mining at the University of Queensland.
During her time at university, Lulu had the opportunity to undertake vacation work. She didn’t want to just go straight out to a mine site; she wanted to experience the corporate side and peel back the curtain of how a mining company operates.
Lulu spent the first two weeks of Whitehaven’s 2024-2025 12-week vacation program in the Remote Operating Centre (ROC) in Brisbane.
“It was a personal preference to do my vacation program based in Whitehaven’s Brisbane office as I wanted to experience the corporate side to mining before going to site.
“The ROC felt like walking into a spy movie with all the computers and screens. It was eye-opening seeing how components of Whitehaven’s mines can be operated remotely from hundreds of kilometres away. I spent the first two weeks shadowing the team in the ROC, learning about what they do and the impacts this has on the business.
“I also had the opportunity to work on a wet weather dashboard project and developed a love for coding. Before this experience, I hated coding – I did a first-year uni course and thought I’d never have to use it again. But now, I love it. My days were spent learning from data specialists, using PowerBi to visualise the data and working with data in SQL,” Lulu explained.
Although Lulu relished her time in Brisbane, it was a visit to Whitehaven’s Daunia mine site during her twelve weeks that confirmed her career aspirations.
“I went to Daunia and got to sit in an operating shovel with PJ, one of the shovel operators,” she recalled.
“That was my lightbulb moment. PJ offered to give me a tour of the shovel and I was standing, looking out onto the pit and I cried. It was embarrassing, but I knew that this is my industry. I can see myself doing this for the rest of my life.”
Since finishing up her first vacation program with Whitehaven, Lulu continued working with the business in a part-time data analysis role in the Brisbane office.
When the 2025-26 vacation program enrollments rolled around Lulu didn’t hesitate to apply again. This time around she was based at Blackwater Mine, one of Whitehaven’s newest acquisitions and home to the largest dragline fleet in the southern hemisphere.
“I wanted to build on my knowledge and understanding of the operation rather than start fresh somewhere else, and Whitehaven has such a good culture and strong teams and there really wasn’t another company I wanted to go to.
“I really wanted to see how such a large dragline operation works in practice and be part of it,” she said.
Lulu joined the Mine Scheduling and Planning team as part of her placement, working closely with the Dragline team. Over the 12 weeks of her vacation work she was given the opportunity to contribute to real operational work.
“I got thrown straight in to what the team actually does every week. I basically got given what they were doing, which I was really excited about cause as a vac student, you don’t really get to do that. You’re more on the sidelines.
“I was doing dragline and dozer plans, weekly reporting, compliance work and contributing to plans that are actually used on site. Of course they were heavily reviewed, but that’s where I feel I learned a lot from the feedback.”
Lulu said that seeing things in real life, not just on a computer screen or hearing about them, was one of the most beneficial parts of the experience at Blackwater.
“Seeing things in real life makes such a difference. I was doing a dozer push plan that looking at my computer looked like it’d be about the size of me, just a small hill. I finished the plan and went out with the dozer push Superintendent and it was at least 10 metres high.”
For Lulu, the experience also reinforced just how important communication and relationships are in mining.
“One of the key learnings I took away from Blackwater was that communication drives execution. The operators and supervisors are critical to productivity,” she said.
“You can make all the plans you want, but if you don’t communicate properly or listen to the people doing the work there will be consequences.
“It’s something I’ve always had in the back of my mind, but I never really understood just how important it is.”
She particularly valued the daily collaboration with the Dragline team, including early-morning meetings to discuss performance, challenges and priorities. Lulu also spoke highly of the support she received from her team.
“They pushed me, but in the best way. I asked a lot of questions, and they are so under the pump but were also so willing to help me learn.”
Lulu is now in the fourth year of engineering at the University of Queensland and has goals of becoming a supervisor one day.
“I would love to join Whitehaven’s graduate program and continue my career in mining on that mine scheduling and dragline side of the operation.
“Mining isn’t just a job – it’s a lifestyle and passion. You can travel the world, be exposed to a multitude of experiences, make life-long friends all whilst doing what you love and making good money. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
