Alex Phillips, Senior Geotechnical Engineer (Site Support Lead)

What is your role, and how long have you been at MGT?

Senior Geotechnical Engineer (Site Support Lead)

Started with MGT in February 2019 as a casual contractor and undertook projects in QLD and VIC. Found myself in WA during covid and was in exile from home in NZ for nearly 3 years, during which time I finally met other MGT people! MGT helped by getting the family over to WA at the end of 2020 and I came on board permanently once our exile ended.

What sparked your interest in this field?

As a child I was always interested in rocks, landforms, fossils, bones, shiny minerals. I had a collection of interesting items I’d found around Scotland where I grew up; it included all sorts of things from mouse skulls to red deer jaw bones, interestingly coloured rocks and crystals. Kept it in an old fish crate (scavenged from a beach somewhere) and I called it my “Bone Tray”.

Fortunate to have gone to the kind of school where Geology was a subject option from the age of 14. My enthusiasm for geology and the relationship to the landscape around me led to my interest in applying it in some form or another. Inspired to no small degree by a part of Bryce Courtenay’s “Power of One” when Peekay (the main character) spends time on a mine in the Zambia Copperbelt, I saw myself going into the mining industry and carried this through Durham University and on to Camborne School of Mines as postgraduate. My first professional work was as a Geologist in South Africa.

Share a memorable project story.

During 2020 I was on a Site Support placement at Jaguar. It was a small technical services team and owner-operator crew. Being a small team we were involved in more aspects of the operation’s management than is usual, with one production engineer, one planning engineer, one geotech and a graduate. The scope for coming up with solutions across discipline was immense and fluid, professionally really enjoyable and rewarding. This was also during covid and we had longer swings and long breaks in a shut down world, I was not the only one who was stuck a long way from home therefore the friendliness, camaraderie and integration from the crew was really important. They became my people when I couldn’t be with my people.

What is a quote that has stuck with you?

Terry Pratchett in his novel ‘Moving Pictures’ (1990): “The saddest thing is that one day you’re going to die. Don’t worry about it. That’s okay. The really saddest thing is if you don’t find out what you’re good at, because then it is as if you have been here all the time and you haven’t been here at all.”

What advice would you give to aspiring engineering geologists?

The same advice I give to my son and daughters; say ‘yes’ to every new experience presented to you. The more you experience the more you grow. The really important thing to remember is that your next job doesn’t have to be the thing you do for the rest of your life so if it doesn’t suit you, then do something else. Strive to find the thing that you are naturally good at, then work out how to get paid for doing it. Above all, take knowledge and transferrable skills from your experiences and keep moving forward.

Who in your team would you like to give a shout-out to?

Where to start? Probably John for his trust and backup. Support from my team; Chris smashing everything we put in front of him; Gavin, Ish & Anup back on a shaft sink and making themselves indispensable; Marcel & Simon ploughing through km’s of core week after week consistently at a high quality; Lyndell & Richard with their lifetime of experience, easy manner and knowledge sharing. That’s just the Site Support Team as it stands this morning… couldn’t function without the back-up from Emma in Admin Mobilisation, Karen in Accounts, Ewelina & Bryony in Marketing, and Ian in IT.

Mentoring site visit to Mt Whaleback Iron Ore with Chris in May 2025

Rapid-fire questions

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Something outdoors and real/hands-on.

How do you take your coffee? Or are you a tea person?

In the AM coffee, and in the PM tea. Driller’s style, cheap instant or tea bag, milk and 1 sugar.

What is one (or more) of your favourite hobbies?

Catching fish, hunting, adventures but equally chilling with a good book in a quiet spot to intermittently people watch.

Do you have a favourite rock/rock formation/mineral/element?

Difficult one as they are associated with experiences and people. School Isle of Wight fieldtrip comes to mind, a bit of a coming of age adventure amongst young sedimentary formations; Geo-lubrication courtesy of Goddards ale with sediment of coccolith debris, our mentor Dave Fielding’s “Ode to Micraster”. Eriboll field trip from Durham, exploring a region I knew from summer fishing/hunting holidays growing up from a very different point of view. Finding a gossan while on exploration in the Bushveldt or green copper bleed from metasediments in Zululand accompanied by half a dozen local kids wagging school.

If I had to pick a particular rock type I think it would be serpentinite; apart from the pleasing sinuous look, soapy feel and deep greeney-blue colour, it contains a mineral called lizardite… which is so clearly such made-up-on-the-spot name to give it an aesthetic quality all of its own.

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grounded in rigorous data analysis, enabling robust design.

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