Crews at Glencore’s Rolleston Open Cut operation were stoked to meet Supercar racing legend, Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom on a recent site visit, made possible thanks to their long-term supplier FUCHS Lubricants.
Mark spent two days meeting the workforce as he toured the site and learnt about their operations. Although no stranger to powerful machinery, Mark was particularly impressed to see the impressive dragline at Rolleston Open Cut. One bucket load of the Bucyrus 2570W dragline can shift over 200T of overburden at a time and Mark had a lot of fun seeing the machine in action. However the visit had a much more important purpose as Samantha Davis, Senior Environment and Community Advisor explained to us.
“Due to the remoteness of our operations, we place a high importance on these site visits as they expose our workforce to something they otherwise would not have the opportunity to have,” said Sam.
“Giving our workforce the opportunity to meet people like Mark who have excelled in their chosen careers not only improves our overall workplace culture, but there is real value in what they can learn.
“Whether talking about safety, preparedness or training, these are all important lessons our workforce can relate to, and hopefully inspire them that no matter what you are doing, you do it to the best of your ability.”
After sharing supercar and site stories, Mark and the team from Rolleston Open Cut then went on to delight some local students. The sites Environment and Community Department coordinated a day at Springsure State School, also inviting students from Orion State School and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Primary School to come along and meet the racing legend.
“These visits are not only the chance to expose our workforce, but we also want to give our local communities these opportunities and so we arranged the visit with local students. The kids were incredibly excited to meet the racing legend and had plenty of questions to ask,” said Sam.
“Of course, many of their questions focused on the dangerous aspects of Mark’s careers such as crashing or being scared, but Mark also spoke at length on what it takes to excel, such as preparation and determination and this practical advice is something the students can apply to whatever career path they choose later in life.
“We place a high importance on these sites visits, which have admittedly been quite difficult the last few years though we were able to have rugby league legend Billy Moore come out at the end of last year and impart some of his wisdom. We are looking forward to continuing to share these experiences with our local communities over the years to come.”
