I applied through an employee referral. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at Rio Tinto (Melbourne) in Jan 2015
Interview
One HR lady, two managers, one from the group I'd be in and one from a closely related group. It was 45min max, a mix of behavioural questions and technical questions--the technical questions were sourced mainly from my PhD research, which was highly related to the job role. Two separate questions on safety asking for examples of safety from previous jobs (my role includes field based components so this is very important to them). I skipped some of the up front process Rio typically has (eg phone interview, etc) as I was directly referred to the manager by a friend.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Example of safety issue you've encountered AND example of when you've made a safety decision
Example of a time you've been in conflict
Where do you see yourself in 5 yrs?
Do you prefer exploration to the lab
Several other behavioural questions I can't quite remember now...
The technical questions were very tailored to me, I don't think they'd apply to anyone else