Sep 7, 2026 – 9.00amIt was only a last-ditch helicopter flight that prevented Marnie Finlayson from giving birth at a remote mine in the red dust of Western Australia’s mineral-rich Pilbara region.Heavily pregnant with her second child, the then-Rio Tinto executive was working at the mining giant’s Pannawonica iron ore operations when a tropical cyclone bore down, threatening to cut off the site for days.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Mark WembridgeResources reporterMark Wembridge covers resource companies for The Australian Financial Review, based in Perth. He formerly worked for the Financial Times in London and Hong Kong.Fetching latest articles