ROCK HUNTER: Martin Nguyen’s career has been defined by exploration and adventure
— By Anthea Batsakis
Martin grew up on the plains of Echuca, Victoria, but dreamt of mountains.
“Mountains fascinated me. I found it magical to see something so different from what I was used to, and that spurred me to study earth sciences in high school,” he says.
He buried himself in geology at university and eventually became an exploration geologist at Fortescue Metals Group, scouring remote corners of Western Australia for lithium and cobalt – one of the first geologists at the company to do so.
Now, as a structural geologist at Rio Tinto, his role is a bit like a science help centre. From his office, he helps teams searching for water, copper and iron to solve problems. Then, he joins them for a week to collect data.
“In the field, our number one goal is mapping. We walk beautiful lines through beautiful country, and then return to the office to work out if our observations give any clues to answering the field team’s questions.”
His advice for future geologists is to talk to geologists: “We’re a really welcoming, passionate bunch.”
Martin’s pathway to becoming a structural geologist
- Bachelor of Science Advanced Research (Geoscience)(Honours), Monash University
- Intern and junior geologist, MMG
- Fortescue Metals Group
- Specialist structural geologist, Rio Tinto
This profile originally appeared in Careers with STEM: Engineering 2025.
