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But if not for QUT’s Learning Potential Fund (LPF), she may never have finished her university degree – let alone secured a key role at one of the world’s largest resource companies.

A project geologist on BHP’s Oak Dam Resource Strategy team, Amy says her LPF scholarship in 2017 was an “absolute game changer”, keeping her higher education aspirations afloat and enabling her to complete a double degree at QUT (Business Management and Earth Science).

Amy started her QUT studies in 2013 but her academic path hit a substantial hurdle when her work at a retail furniture store ended suddenly due to a failed interstate expansion.

Aged 19 and without access to government assistance, living costs such as rent were further exacerbated by course requirements such as textbooks and equipment.

“We had mandatory geology field trips each semester which required special equipment such as a geological compass, hand lenses and rock hammer … all essential for a budding geologist and to help pass assignments, but expensive.

“Without the scholarship, it is unlikely I would have been able to complete my university studies. The LPF enabled me to not only finish my course but also, through QUT, complete a work placement in the resource industry, leading to my first job at a small consultancy in Brisbane – and ultimately, my dream job at BHP.”

Now 29, Amy is working at South Australia’s largest mining exploration project, 500km north of Adelaide, where a geoscience and operations team is determining the size of an exciting new, deep IOCG (iron oxide copper-gold) deposit.

Ongoing surveys are confirming the size and depth of the deposit – with copper being a vital element of the energy transition through its use in solar, hydro, thermal, wind and battery-generated power.

After graduating in 2018, Amy worked on a coal mine in Moranbah, central Queensland; searched for iron ore in the remote Pilbara, northern Western Australia; and worked on underground mapping in outback South Australia before starting with BHP, Australia’s largest mining company, in 2021.

“This role is really exciting – we are using techniques away from traditional drilling to visualise and better understand IOCG deposits.

“Using developing technology to change the way we explore and mine is truly exciting. Geophysical surveys such as helicopter, electromagnetic and seismic help produce 3D images with minimal invasiveness.”

Recently engaged to Alex (right), the couple’s townhouse in Adelaide’s CBD is also home to the aptly named Copper, a typically energetic one-year-old Cavoodle. 

Exploration at Oak Dam has indicated the presence of high-grade copper and associated minerals from about 800m below the surface.

The process will proceed from an inferred resource to an application for retention lease, then potential mining longer term.

Nominated by BHP for a Premier’s Award (Young Achievement category), the impact of the LPF continues to drive Amy’s career.

“I still have the speciality equipment and textbooks purchased with the LPF scholarship, and they continue to help me with my career,” she says.

“I often think how fortunate I was to receive scholarship – I would not be where am without it. I would not have been able to finish my degree; I would not have been able to do the holiday graduate placement program which led to my first job … it would be a very different life.

“Receiving an LPF scholarship can change the entire trajectory of a student’s life.”

• The Learning Potential Fund is life-changing and transformational, providing critical financial help to students who otherwise would be unable to pursue higher education.
• The largest perpetual endowment fund of its scale in Australia, the LPF has provided more than 39,000 scholarships since 1998 to talented students accepted to study at university, but struggling to pay for necessities such as rent, bills and textbooks.

To help more students like Amy reach their potential, donate to the Learning Potential Fund. All donations are matched dollar for dollar by QUT.