From Ulaanbaatar to Perth

Recently we met Estimator, Altan Zandraa, who has lived and worked in Mongolia before making the move to Australia and joining us at Monadelphous in our Victoria Park office. Altan’s journey spans two continents and over 8,000 kilometres (and then some!). 

I grew up in Mongolia, in the capital of Ulaanbaatar which is 550km north of Oyu Tolgoi (OT). I spent time working at Oyu Tolgoi with a large local company for many years before moving to Perth and joining Monadelphous – this is my story.  

While I didn’t work for Monadelphous during my time at OT, I had many opportunities to work with the Monadelphous team on site which I really enjoyed. I didn’t see Monadelphous as a competitor and found ways to share work and help the team while on site, we were all there for a single goal and I thought it was important to learn from those around me on site. I got to know some of the project team from Monadelphous who were on site and enjoyed getting to know them and sharing what I knew about the unique challenges of OT. 

A few years ago, my family and I moved from Mongolia to settle in Australia so I could complete my master’s degree in project management. It marked the beginning of an exciting journey for my family and soon after I joined the team at Monadelphous. 

I was looking for a change and Monadelphous presented the perfect opportunity with a good balance of work and being able to enjoy life with my children and wife away from work. I’m currently an Estimator within the Engineering Construction (EC) Projects team and it’s wonderful to still be able to work on a project like OT.  

OT and Mongolia itself are complex landscapes and I have been able to share my knowledge and learnings from spending years on site there. I’m thrilled to be part of the team who recently began mobilising to site, it’s a major highlight for me and has been a team effort to get to this point. 

What I enjoy most about my role is creating long lasting relationships and getting the most out of a project. So, I’m looking forward to working together with the Monadelphous team on the OT project and showing how well we can complete our work and impressing the customer in Mongolia. 

Now I’m able to spend more time with my family here in Australia, I embarked on the challenge of renovating an older house and building it with my kids. It’s wonderful that I can spend time teaching my kids how to build something. I enjoy working with wood and undertaking the renovation on my own with family and friends (and with the help of professionals where I need the expertise). It’s been great seeing it all come together while teaching the kids some important skills. 

I’ve learnt a lot throughout the renovation process however my biggest takeaway is that you can do anything you set your mind to and that’s what I encourage my kids to do. 

Now we have eased out of the pandemic, I’m really looking forward to returning to Europe with my family. My sister is an opera singer who lives in Italy, and due to COVID this has been the longest time we have been apart.  

We’re a close family so I hope to take the kids back to Italy soon, we spent many summers there as a family before the pandemic took ahold of the world. It’s a wonderful place to be able to enjoy the crystal-clear waters, picturesque landscapes and beaches, I can’t wait to return.