Operator Laboratory

• Join our teams, who look out for each other because your safety and wellbeing are always our priority. 
• Permanent employment which includes attractive salary, annual bonuses, training and development opportunities and a huge range of additional benefits, like discounts on hotels, retail, car hire and many more. 
• Balanced Work-Life Rhythm: Our lifestyle-friendly roster (8:6/7:7) provides a harmonious balance between career and home life ensuring you spend more time with your loved ones and doing the things outside of work, that matter most to you. 

We’re Finding Better Ways™ to provide materials the world needs, now and in the future.  Our values – care, courage and curiosity – guide how we work and how we treat each other.

About the role

We are looking for a Laboratory Operator to support processing operations through accurate and timely sample preparation, testing and analysis. In this role, you’ll contribute to reliable production and quality outcomes, while working with laboratory and operational teams. This is a great opportunity for someone who enjoys hands-on technical work, working safely and accurately, and contributing to the performance of the operation.

What you’ll be doing

Reporting to the Laboratory Supervisor and working in a collaborative and safety-focused environment within the Laboratory team, you will be:

• Championing a strong safety culture by working in accordance with Rio Tinto standards, procedures and relevant legislative requirements.
• Monitoring and operating fixed plant sampling equipment and collecting production samples safely and accurately.
• Preparing, analysing and reporting samples in accordance with Quality Management System (QMS) procedures to support reliable product quality results.
• Supporting laboratory technicians to assess analytical accuracy against product quality targets and escalating results or issues to the appropriate stakeholders when required.
• Maintaining laboratory and sampling equipment readiness by coordinating required materials, identifying defects and raising maintenance notifications.
• Collaborating with supervisors, technicians and operational teams to communicate progress, meet production requirements and identify continuous improvement opportunities.

About you

We’re looking for someone whose experience aligns with the key requirements below. You do not need to meet every “helpful for success” item to apply — if you bring relevant experience and are excited by the opportunity, we encourage you to submit an application.

Required for Success

• A commitment to the safety of yourself and your team
• Experience within a laboratory environment, including quality assurance and/or quality control
• A current Western Australian C Class Driver’s Licence (Manual)

Helpful for Success

• Experience in sample preparation and laboratory analysis, including flux fusion, Leco TGA, XRF, moisture or sizing analysis
• Exposure to laboratory equipment including Rotary Sample Dividers (RSDs) and Rocklabs crusher/splitters.
• Experience with computers systems such as Starlims, SAP, FDMS, TIKS, SuperQ or ChemAlert

What we offer

Be recognised for your contribution, your thinking and your hard work, and go home knowing you’ve helped the world progress.  

• A work environment where safety is always the number one priority  

• A permanent position working directly for Rio Tinto  

• A competitive base salary reflective of your skills and experience with annual incentive program   

• Comprehensive medical benefits including subsidised private health insurance for employees and immediate family                 

• Attractive share ownership plan  

• Company provided insurance cover  

• Extensive salary sacrifice & salary packaging options  

• Career development & education assistance to further your technical or leadership ambitions   

• Ongoing access to family-friendly health and medical wellbeing support   

• Leave for all of life’s reasons (vacation/annual, paid parental, personal & cultural leave)  

• Exclusive employee discounts (banking, accommodation, cars, retail and more)  

• Possible domestic relocation assistance   

Where you’ll be working

Robe Valley Operations, located on Robe River Kuruma Country, is close to the community of Pannawonica in the scenic Pilbara region, approximately 200km south-west of Karratha. The operation comprises two key sites: Mesa A, which is primarily fly-in-fly-out, and Mesa J, which is strongly supported by a residential workforce living in Pannawonica.    

Applications close on 20 November (Rio Tinto reserves the right to remove advertised roles prior to this date).

About Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto is a leading global mining and materials company. We operate in 35 countries where we produce iron ore, copper, aluminium, critical minerals, and other materials needed for the global energy transition and for people, communities, and nations to thrive.

We have been mining for 150 years and operate with knowledge built up across generations and continents. Our purpose is finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs – striving for innovation and continuous improvement to produce materials with low emissions and to the right environmental, social and governance standards. But we can’t do it on our own, so we’re focused on creating partnerships to solve problems, create win-win situations and meet opportunities.

Respect and Inclusion

At Rio Tinto, we particularly welcome and encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, women, the LGBTQ+ community, mature workers, people with disabilities and people from different cultural backgrounds.

We are committed to an inclusive environment where people feel comfortable to be themselves. We want our people to feel that all voices are heard, all cultures respected and that a variety of perspectives are not only welcome – they are essential to our success. We treat each other fairly and with dignity regardless of race, gender, nationality, ethnic origin, religion, age, sexual orientation or anything else that makes us different.

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