Drilling for iron ore

Cindy Hadley is a pit technician for Fortescue Mines. She's "a fieldie" working with the iron ore drill rigs.

She shares how iron ore is found.

She explains how the drill goes down a set distance, for example 30m, and collects a sample every half a metre. She tests the sample of soil to see if the sample is waste or ore - by scratching the surface to look at the colour.

She started at the company with no experience, with her cousin working for the company and trained on the job. She has now been there for 3.5 years.

SkillsOne recently visited tradies who work in the mining industry in the Pilbarra, in Western Australia, run by the Fortescue Metals Group.

Fortescue focusses on iron ore.

Fortescue's port, rail and mine project commenced construction in February 2006 with the turning of the first sod at the Company's port site at Anderson Point in Port Hedland. Just two years later, the open-access rail infrastructure is complete, the Fortescue Herb Elliott Port is operational and the mining operations at the Company's first mine site, known as Cloudbreak, are well underway.