The new General Manager of Operations at Bengalla Coal is Jo-Anne Scarini.
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Ms Scarini stepped into the role in September, heading a workforce of 500 staff and contractors at the open-cut mine on the Wybong Road.
Prior to her appointment at Bengalla, Jo-Anne Scarini was formerly Rio Tinto’s Gove Transition Project Director.
Rio Tinto announced the suspension of production at its Gove alumina refinery in the Northern Territory last November. More than 1,200 workers lost their job, or were re-deployed, when the shutdown was completed in July.
Ms Scarini has been with Rio Tinto for 16 years, in two separate stints at the Aluminium and Copper groups.
She left Rio Tinto in 2000, spending six years in the public sector, before rejoining the company.
Jo-Anne Scarini says she is still getting to know the Muswellbrook and Denman communities, but says she’s been made welcome.
“Bengalla is a fantastic operation [and] it’s got a very good reputation within Rio Tinto and I’m very excited to be here.
Jo-Anne Scarini admits the mining industry is facing challenging times, but says she is currently in the fortunate position of being able to increase Bengalla’s workforce.
“We’ve got an expansion underway and we’ll be looking to bring people into the operation to support that.
“It’s about 40 people we’re bringing on and we’re using local firm, SubZero, to help us,” she said.
A proposed $688 million continuation of Bengalla mine is still being assessed by the NSW Department of Planning.
The original consent allowed Bengalla to extract up to 8.7 million tonnes a year for 21 years. The miner is seeking a new development consent to enable mining to continue for an additional 24 years at a maximum production rate of up to 15 million tonnes a year.
Bengalla’s new GM says she’s proud of Bengalla’s rigorous environmental controls and the company’s connections to the community.
“Obviously, I’m only new to the region so I haven’t established contacts with [the thoroughbred, wine and farming] industries yet, but at Bengalla we have stringent requirements in how we support co-existence.
“We have controls around dust mitigation and noise mitigation and the management of these controls is quite mature within the Bengalla operation,” she said.
Jo-Anne Scarini says the thousands of people who attended last weekend’s Bengalla Open Day are testament to the community’s connection to the mine.
“It says that people are interested in what we do and I think people get quite excited to get up close to a big mining truck and have a look at what a working pit is like,” she said.
While meeting the community at the Open Day was enjoyable for Jo-Anne Scarini, she says she remains focused on the main game.
“It’s my job to lead the team at Bengalla to make sure we can produce safe, productive and profitable coal,” she said