From Scholarship to Leadership: Darius Wonyen’s Journey in Mining

Darius G. Wonyen, a Liberian Mining and Mineral Processing Engineer, joined ArcelorMittal Liberia (AML) in 2018 through the company’s Young Professionals Program (YPP) as an intern.

The YPP is a well-designed career development program to seek out Liberia’s brightest scholars and young professionals to develop their skills and deepen their knowledge in preparation for the job market.

Upon completing his internship, Darius got a scholarship from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to do his Master in Mineral Processing with the determination to add value to Liberia’s raw materials.

With the aspiration to work for ArcelorMittal, Darius asked the company to assist him with a portion of his scholarship, to which AML formalized their commitment through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), ensuring that he would return to work for the company after completing his degree. As a result, AML provided him with a job offer upon completion of his degree. Darius was subsequently integrated into AML’s workforce as a Mining Mineralogist.

Grateful for the opportunities ArcelorMittal Liberia has provided him, Darius expresses thanks to the company for helping him to realize his dreams.

“Working for ArcelorMittal Liberia is an incredible opportunity for me. It enables me to give back to the company, develop my career, and to contribute towards the growth of the mining sector in our country. I also see this as a platform for us to showcase our skills and potential to make impact and to lead a change in our community and serve as a role model for other Liberians who are coming,” noted Darius.

ArcelorMittal’s support for Darius did not end with contribution of portion of the scholarship. In preparation for the concentrator startup and based on his background in mineral processing, the company offered him an opportunity to travel to Canada for another game-changing experience and international exposure in the mining industry and to return and contribute feedback to the Phase II Expansion Project.

The purpose of the mission was in two folds ─ to help him gain deeper insights into the full mining value chain and to contribute his quotas, as well as to give feedback to Operation Readiness of the AML Phase II Project under which a giant concentrator processing plant is being erected in Liberia.

Sharing some of what he achieved, the young Liberian professional named Processes and System that placed a deeper emphasis on the concentrator, Production Planning and Quality Control that emphasizes grade control and mine planning, Performance Metrics, Training and Skill Development, Regulatory Compliance, and Technology and Innovation.

Additionally, the mission was to prepare the young Liberian Mineralogist to support the concentrator startup by establishing a collaboration between the existing Canadian mine which produces 26 million tons of iron ore yearly, and the Phase II concentrator Project in Liberia.

“I obtained a detailed account of the entire mining value chain with a deeper emphasis on the concentrator from AMMC’s current operational processes, including mine-to-mill, tailings, environment and project, supply chain, business and technical systems and platforms,” said Darius.

In relation to his achievement from the mission, Darius recounted, “Key takeaways for me from there was the importance of thorough collaboration with an existing mining infrastructure and the one starting from this side, and the significance of first-hand preparation in having the rightful people, systems, and processes at the earlier stage of the project.”

“I gained a better understanding of the crucial role that before-hand coordination between grade control and mine planning plays in large mining operations to support the supply of consistent feed grade to the concentrator, and identified a few best practices in safety, mining technical services and operations, iron ore processing, sustainability, waste management, contractor management, and project development and implementation,” he added.

Acknowledging the immense contributions of ArcelorMittal Liberia in local staff development, Darius noted: “I believe in the potential of Liberia’s resource and the necessity for Liberians to lead keep initiative in their own economy. Therefore, working for a company that emphasizes local staff development is something that I deeply appreciate.”

He added, “Since my journey with ArcelorMittal Liberia in 2018 from an internship opportunity to contributing to some portion of my master’s program and going for a development mission in Canada, it has prepared and helped my professional career to grow. The colleagues and network of people I work with at ArcelorMittal have expanded my horizons. The environment also has helped to begin building my confidence and the next step for me now is to develop my leadership skills and I need to do this by stepping into leadership roles and taking courses. Local staff leadership development is crucial for the sustainability and future of the operation. This will ensure that we are thoroughly prepared to take on leadership responsibility.”

On the Phase II Expansion, the Liberian Mineralogist, said with a 15 million tonnes per annum target, the concentrator will put Liberia on the world market as a major producer for premium grade iron ore that meets the international requirement for industrial steelmaking.

He said the presence of the concentrator creates a viable opportunity with the potential to transform significantly, Liberia’s economic landscape for the long-term future and provide a source of livelihood for Liberians now and their descendants to come.

“This is the most reason why we as Liberians must increase our interests in the Phase II Project and be integrated into key roles so that we can harness our skills collectively alongside our international partners and ensure that we contribute our significant quotas immensely towards the success of this project,” said Darius.

He believes that the Phase II Project is a platform for Liberians to drive change and take charge of their resources and contribute to the sustainable growth of the country.

Darius, expressed gratitude to ArcelorMittal Liberia and ArcelorMittal Global for providing him the platform to showcase his talent, urging management to continue the path of local staff development to explore the many hidden talents in the youths of Liberia.

After the journey to Canada, Darius says he has begun making use of the knowledge acquired.

“I am using the information, contacts and tools from Arcelormittal Mines Canada to motivate for Pi Vision production management system, support the development of the quality control philosophy for the concentrator, support the development of business and technical requirements for metallurgical accounting for operations support, motivate the creation of a dedicated process support team which has been added to the concentrator structure; development of process standards operating Procedures and contributing efforts to Geo-metallurgy and Predictive Model development. The goal for me at this stage of the collaboration is to break silos and promote interactions among key stakeholders in the projects as it is crucial for the success of the 15 Mtpa concentrator.”