To whom it may concern,

I am writing to apply for the position of Process Engineer / Chemical Engineer / Metallurgist – FIFO 8/6 at Hopes Down 4 operated by Rio Tinto, which advertised online at Seek on September 16th, 2020.

An ideal candidate must have experience and interest in the mining industry. I am profoundly interested in the mining industry and have made a conscious effort to gain experience. For my honours design project, I designed a mineral processing plant for rare earth elements and attained a distinction grade. I have achieved substantial physical experience utilising typical grinding, crushing units with specialised flotation experience during my work placement, and as a result, developed a thorough understanding of mineral processing unit operations.

I have enclosed my CV to support my application, illustrating that I would bring essential skills to the position, including:

- Experience. I had the fantastic opportunity to work for Laureate Professor Graeme Jameson across various mineral processing projects as part of my Honours research project into lithium ore flotation. I then moved onto employment working with conventional grinding, crushing technology, and carrying out metallurgist testing, as well as specialised focus into flotation units such as the NovaCell, Concord, and Denver cell conducting batch and continuous kinetic test work developing size by size kinetic recovery, grade vs. recovery models and data reconciliation.

- Results. During my time working for Professor Jameson and at University, the skills I've developed has allowed me to excel in other roles, as exemplified by saving the cost of new equipment in my current position. I also developed during a side project a protocol for how to analyse for gold/copper/lithium/iron using ICP-MS, ICP-OES, and XRD.

- Performance. Peers and colleagues have recognised me as being a dedicated and responsible individual. An example of this is my design project, as a duty manager at Coles and as a research officer for Laureate Professor Jameson.

Rio Tinto has been of interest to me since embarking on my honours design project 2019. When completing my design project, Rio Tinto provided an invaluable insight into the recovery methods of iron ores such as Hematite and Magnetite as an added income to turn-around a profit within 2 years from start-up.

I would enjoy having the opportunity to talk with you about this position and to use my developed skills to benefit your organisation. I am committed to working towards my ideal role as a Metallurgical Superintendent with the ability to start within 4 weeks.

Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Dale Mays