Surface Mining
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Hard Work, Sense of Adventure Mark Tara Hutchison’s Mining Career at Sumitomo Metal

Published: October 9, 2017 |

Tara Hutchison poses for a photo with her geologist's hammer, circa 2013, at the Pogo Mine.

Tara Hutchison poses for a photo with her geologist's hammer, circa 2013, at the Pogo Mine.
[Click image to enlarge]

Tara Hutchison once dreamed of being a cartoonist, then she wanted to be a lawyer or an accountant.

But life happened and she became a production geologist working at the Sumitomo Metal Mining Pogo Mine, a “rock licker.”

Like most Pogo Mine employees, the 31-year-old works long hours at the remote remote camp, working a two-weeks-on, two-weeks-off schedule.

Hutchison’s job consists of mapping the mine’s lithology (rock type), the faults, the smaller quartz veins — which is where gold is often found, and the stope, which is the actual mining tunnel. She described the maps as being similar in appearance to an ant farm with tunnels and veins running throughout the subterreanean mine.

She also marks-up the headings with orange spray paint. The mark-ups show the miners where to dig, lithology, and at what direction and grade to mine. Since she started, Hutchison has done close to 2,200 mark-ups.

Hutchison also crunches numbers specifically related to how much gold is being extracted from the mine in comparison to rock.

“It’s a good mixture of field work and office time,” Hutchison said. “You’re always on the move. When you have five headings you have to mark up, you’re like bing bing bing bing bing, and you’re on the move — people get out of the way for me — it’s fun.”

Hutchison’s father lived the camp lifestyle working at Beaver Slide Pump Station 5. She said it prepared her for the lifestyle in a way, but it’s still a challenge.

“The hardest part is just being away from friends and home,” Hutchison said in an email.

“I mostly deal with it by trying to make the most of my time off. Working at a camp definitely makes you prioritize what you want to accomplish when you’re off site, but also gives the opportunity to have breaks where I just go travel without worrying about Monday coming so soon. Also, having good coworkers and spending time at the gym after work helps.”

Hutchison said she runs about 35 miles in a two-week period on the treadmill at camp to burn off all her pent up energy and stay in shape. She is training for the Hoodoo Half Marathon.

Hutchison has been promoted a several times since arriving at Pogo in 2013 and she credits it to hard work.

“I logged circles around people. I busted my a—. I put in a lot of effort,” Hutchison said.

And she doesn’t mind being one of the few woman who work underground at Pogo.

“There’s like three woman who work underground, so it’s a male-dominated profession,” Hutchison said. “It doesn’t affect me one way or another. They’d call me a hard(expletive) because I hold people to the same standard I work at.”

“It was a fluke thing,” Hutchison said about deciding to study geology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “I really liked my geology professor, Rhiner Newberry, in geology 101. We had this brown (expletive) geology van and we’d go on field trips. I figured I could hang out on mountains. Now I get to hang out in mountains.”

Her advice for aspiring geologists:

“For anyone in school, no matter the field, I would suggest studying abroad,” Hutchison said in an email. She studied abroad in Svalbard, Norway.

“As far as geology goes, I would recommend finding a summer job in any related job to help you figure out which route you want to take when you graduate. I think working in exploration in Alaska between school years definitely gave me a better idea of the hours you have to put in, as well as how much I enjoyed looking for Alaska’s state mineral (although, by no means do I have gold fever).”

Hutchison said she is happy with her job.

“I get to map, so I’m drawing pictures,” Hutchison said. “Accounting: I have to add up the tons we’ve broken and the gold we’ve extracted. Attorney: I have to defend my mark-ups. They ask me, ‘Why didn’t you turn more this way.’ In a way I got do what I wanted. It allows me to travel, afford things, work on my house, and the simple things like a having a beer with friends.”

—By:  Kevin Baird, Newsminer

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