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Soon Alec had the fire lit. The billy was huddled against the wood as if for warmth. On his haunches before the small flame, Alec was feeding the little fire more twigs and branches when he heard Katherine stir. She emerged from the Kombi stifling a yawn while stretching, her hair still ruffled from sleep.
‘Morning, Kath.’
‘Morning.’
‘You slept well.’
‘Mmm. Reasonably, considering. Carolyn didn’t wake after the last feed and she’s still sleeping.’
‘I’m almost ready to go. I’ve packed two water bottles in my rucksack and restocked the pit with fresh branches. There was over half a bucket of water. I’ll have a mug of tea and some of the cracker biscuits then be off. Do you mind if I take the oranges? There are only three left. And an apple? I’ll leave rest for you.’
Katherine nodded. ‘Will that be enough?’
‘It should be. With luck I’ll be able to have a good feed in Ceduna at lunch time! Get some help then back here to fetch you.’
In the Perth offices of the Australian Geological Organisation, known by all as AGO, Petri Koivu, Senior Geologist and Project Leader, was facing his managers. It was not a happy meeting. Petri had been managing a number of the company’s exploration projects in Western Australia and developed a new model for the origin of economic mineral sands deposits. This led to a novel concept for exploration techniques aimed at locating new resources.
Western Australia, colloquially ‘WA,’ was the major arena for minerals exploration since the recent discovery of exciting large nickel sulphide ore bodies by Western Mining Corporation. All over the state geologists searched for new deposits of nickel, gold and mineral sands. The pubs and bars were filled with the noisy chat of men talking about the latest discovery or the most recent float on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Along the west coast of Australia deposits of valuable mineral sands were found. Their value lay in the fact that they were the major source of the exotic metal titanium, essential for the production of paint and plastic as well as being used as an alloy in aircraft manufacture. This was important for the Americans embroiled in the Vietnam conflict.
The surge in the demand for geoscientists meant that young graduates, such as Petri, were fast-tracked into more senior positions. Some of the junior companies were offering very generous salary packages to anyone with a degree that included some geology and even undergraduates were tempted to leave their studies, a temptation to which many succumbed.
The areas being explored lay in the southern part of the state where mining by a joint venture between Australians and Japanese had been in progress for the past decade. Very little land was available for latecomers to take title.
AGO had given Petri the almost impossible task of finding prospective ground.
‘All I’m asking from you is to be able to present the basics of my model to the Hobart conference on new discoveries,’ Petri was impassionedly saying to his Group Leader, Chris Dorff, and the AGO Exploration Manager, Dr Colin Williamson.
They were seated side by side on the far end of the long table in the conference room. Petri, whose hazel eyes faced the large windows to reflect the view across the Swan River around which the city of Perth had been built, sat directly opposite. Normally the river and its flotilla of small yachts made an appealing sight, but this morning the seating arrangement meant Petri was squinting into the sun.
‘Yes, I can appreciate what you want to do. However, your model has led to the discovery of a new a resource of over two billion tonnes. It gives us a major competitive advantage. We really can’t let this information go into the public domain at this stage.’ Williamson’s voice was firm and so was his attitude.
‘But you and Chris,’ Petri looked pointedly at his Group Leader, ‘have already had press conferences last week to announce the discovery on radio and in The West Australian and told them the basics of my new model.’ Neither Petri nor his team
were mentioned in any of the press interviews nor had they been invited to participate. Petri was angry and frustrated that his managers had indirectly taken credit for this major discovery. He was justly proud of his innovative thinking.
‘Come on, Petri, you know that was just a press interview. It was not a detailed description of the model. Until we have made full use of the leads it gives us and secured all the titles we need you cannot publish anything in the public arena.’
There was a brief silence in the room while Petri calmed his emotions. Speaking in a soft, controlled voice he said, ‘Quite honestly, I am very disappointed in the company. I’ve been working with you since graduation. In that time I recommended the ground around Temora for gold and you decided against it. When NewGold Mining discovered significant gold reserves there your only comment was that I didn’t push it hard enough!’
‘That’s history. We had other programs and we had to allocate resources according to the information we had at the time. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and yes, we should have followed up your recommendations then. But this is quite a different issue.’
‘All that I’ve done for AGO has received so little acknowledgement by management it’s natural that I should feel pretty upset. I know I’m good at developing new ideas, so why can’t you give me credit for it? For example, in the press reports of the Bunyip discovery it was only manager’s names that appeared. Some of those were not even involved in the program.’
‘We’re sorry you feel so strongly. We feel we have given you every support for your work, and the company is grateful. Your salary package has reflected your success. However, we cannot allow you to present a paper to the conference on your novel models.. That’s the end of it.’
‘Very well. I anticipated this and so here is my response.’ Petri leaned forward and handed an envelope to the Exploration Manager. ‘I feel that my contributions, and those of my team, to the success of the AGO exploration are not adequately recognised so I’m obliged to look elsewhere.’
Dr Williamson took the envelope, and without opening it, looked Petri eye to eye. He did not waver. ‘Very well. You obviously planned this confrontation. Your resignation is accepted with reluctance. We feel that you could have had a great future with this company, but you certainly need to learn patience and a few of the managerial skills you currently lack.’
Petri gave an involuntary snort. Having made the decision, and assured of good references from others in the company and from some of the managers in those companies with which he had been involved with AGO joint ventures, he felt he could pass a few opinions of his own. He had already planned for the next step in his career and did not need references from men he no longer respected.
‘You may well be right, Colin, but in my opinion you could learn a great many managerial skills yourself.’
‘I think you’ve said enough.’ This time it was Chris, his Group Leader, who interrupted the flow. It was the only thing he’d said in the entire meeting.
‘Yes, you’re right for once,’ Petri responded angrily. ‘It is time for me to go. I’ll go at once, clear my office and send a copy of my resignation to salaries. There’s leave owing to me so I’ll take that as part of my required two weeks notice.’ With those parting words Petri Koivu stood, turned and left the room.
