A “significant growth” in the Pilbara’s prosperity came over the past three decades because the region’s mines were de-unionised, according to Rio Tinto’s homegrown iron ore boss.

Rio’s Matt Holcz said a “really successful model” of “direct engagement” between employees and employers since the 1980s across the Pilbara’s iron ore mines made the industry flourish, which would become Australia’s biggest driver of wealth.

Speaking at The West Australian’s Leadership Matters breakfast on Wednesday in a rare sit-down interview, Mr Holcz shed light on how an “extraordinarily ordinary” boy who graduated from Karratha Senior High School rose up the ranks to lead the mining goliath’s most important division.

Mr Holcz moved to Newman in the mid-80s when he was seven years old, giving him a deep insight into what underpinned a resources boom in WA’s north.

Militant union activity was rife across the Pilbara’s iron ore mines up until the late 80s. The Albanese Government’s current industrial relations regime threatens to ignite a new era of unionisation.

“I think it [direct engagement] has been a really successful model that we have. And I think we should be concerned, very concerned, about any change,”Mr Holcz told a packed out Astral ballroom at Crown Perth.

“The success story of the Pilbara — the last three decades have been incredible. That’s where we’ve really seen the significant growth, the scale of investment and for all the major producers in the Pilbara.

“That’s been achieved predominantly with the direct relationship between business and their employees.”

Mr Holcz said the amount of jobs that have been created through that growth now “is incredible”.

“Employee conditions for what they were like at the start of that 30-year period to what they’re like now, if you look at employee conditions, pay benefits, most of that, if not all of it, has been driven while we’ve had that direct engagement,” he said.

His comments come two days after his arch-rival — BHP WA iron ore boss Tim Day — warned “the ship has sailed” on industrial relations as his company battles the first union-led strikes in three decades at a Pilbara mine.

The Electrical Trades Union kicked-off protected industrial action, including work stoppages, across BHP’s iron ore sites last week.

Rise to the top

A pre-teen Mr Holcz was hardly concerned with the seismic industrial relations shift in the region he called home.

Some of his fondest early memories during the mid-80s in Newman were “a BMX bike, an unlocked front door and the daylight hours” as he explored the ancient rugged landscape that surrounded him.

After an upbringing in the outback that he described as so “ordinary” it was “extraordinary”, Mr Holcz faced a fork in the road moment after graduating high school.

An apprenticeship in Karratha was on the cards until the University of Western Australia dangled a full-ride scholarship in front of him to study engineering and commerce.

A career in mining beckoned following a gap year travelling the world.

“In my mid-20s, I moved to London with my future wife, Anita, and like many young Australians, all we had was a few pounds, some space in a share house and big ambitions,” he said.

“My plan was to join Rio Tinto and get some commercial experience, but when I arrived, they had a hiring freeze. Somehow, I convinced them to give me a six week contract, and almost 20 years later, I guess it worked out okay.

“When I think back to that seven-year-old kid on a BMX bike in Newman, I could never have imagined standing here today.”

Mr Holcz had managerial gigs in London and Peru before he returned home to WA in 2015.

He became the boss of Rio’s iron ore business last year after his predecessor — Simon Trott — was picked to be the company’s chief executive.