Mining Job As Consulting Engineer, Mine Planning Systems Support - USA

Description

Founded in 1921 and publicly traded since 1925, is one of the largest gold companies in the world. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, the company has approximately 34,000 employees and contractors, with the majority working at Newmont's core operations in the United States, Australia, Peru, Indonesia and Ghana. Newmont is the only gold company listed in the S&P 500 index and in 2007 became the first gold company selected to be part of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. Newmont's industry leading performance is reflected through high standards in environmental management, health and safety for its employees and creating value and opportunity for host communities and shareholders.

Purpose

* The Consulting Engineer, Mine Planning Systems Support is responsible for providing global technical support and consulting services to users of the MineSight™ mine planning and geological modeling software. The MineSight™ software is a business-critical geologic and resource modeling, mine engineering and operational (ore control) technical system that has global scope and substantial cost and productivity impact at Newmont's mining operations and within project evaluation functions at Newmont's Technical Services offices located in Denver and Perth.

* The position has a diverse breadth alternating between training, technical support and consulting projects as required by business priorities. This position reports directly to the Manager, Mine Planning Systems Support, but maintains ties to corporate and operating site senior staff to gather feedback on current software configurations, user training needs, and site requirements for future software configuration changes.

* The Consulting Engineer, Mine Planning Systems Support will draw heavily on extensive, practical mine engineering, geologic and resource modeling experience in large, multi-metal, multi-pit (or underground), multi-process operations involving oxide and refractory ores. The position requires strength in geostatistical estimation and simulation methods and strong technical software skills. Expert user status in the MineSight™ software to solve complex technical software problems is mandatory. The position will rely, as needed, on expert MineSight™ software knowledge, mine engineering first principles, short-term planning and ore control field experience, detailed revenue-based modeling and ore control concepts, and broad industry knowledge to ensure practical solutions and training are provided to the user community.

* The Consulting Engineer, Mine Planning Systems Support is responsible for the development and modification of MineSight™ software configurations including resource estimation, strategic-, long- and short-term mine planning, drill and blast planning, stockpile management, ore control and mined material reconciliation. The candidate must be highly proficient with Python and MS Grail™ scripts that support Newmont's business processes and to maintain efficient, streamlined workflows. Additional responsibilities include assisting with process definition and procedure documentation and coordinating and providing training to users in the application of the MineSight™ software.



Essential Duties

* Primary Duties and Responsibilities:
* Software Support

o Liaise with senior site staff (chief mine engineer, chief geologist, mine manager), senior Technical Services staff (directors and/or group executives), and Stage Gate project staff to understand business or project priorities and anticipate and plan accordingly.

o In alignment with Newmont's Stage Gate framework, provide guidance for the development of technical specifications for mine planning, geology, resource estimation and ore control solutions for both green-field and brown-field operations.

o In alignment with Stage Gate project development plans, coordinate vendor resources as necessary for the implementation of new mine planning, geology, resource estimation and ore control solutions at both green-field and brown-field operations and actively assist with site configurations when needed.

o Coordinate with site- or Denver-based staff to provide customized mine planning, geology, resource estimation and ore control solutions or enhancements within the MineSight™ software.

o Develop a strong familiarity with Standard Operating Procedures [SOPs] at all Newmont operating sites to provide customized training to mine planning, geology, and resource estimation staff that is consistent with these SOPs.

o Under the guidance of the Manager, Mine Planning Systems Support, continuously improve the documentation, training materials, processes, tools and methodologies used by Newmont's technical staff to support mine planning, geology, and resource estimation.

o Closely monitor the usage of MineSight™ software in ore control, mine planning, resource modeling, and geologic modeling disciplines at operating sites to improve methodologies, increase efficiencies, transfer best practice solutions, and encourage fundamentals of sound data management.

o Provide front-line troubleshooting and technical support to Newmont's operations and corporate staff using MineSight™ for open-pit and/or underground mine planning, geology, and resource estimation on an on-call basis.

* Technology

o Provide critical review of MineSight™ software configuration requests to ensure industry leading practices are in use where applicable and that the impacts and side effects of configuration changes are clearly understood.

o Develop and maintain a strong familiarity with the TSS (Newmont) mine planning and geologic modeling software.

o Provide technical reviews and guidance regarding the applicability of available solutions within Newmont.


* Processes, Standards and Procedures
o Assist with the development, documentation and enforcement of appropriate procedures and standards within the Mine Planning Systems Support team and on site, and ensure that these procedures and standards are in compliance with corporate planning, ore control, commodity pricing and other applicable policies and standards.

* Secondary Duties and Responsibilities:
o Document software defects and enhancement requests.
o Collaborate with TSS software development personnel to define
functional requirements and continually improve the software solutions.
o Liaise with Mintec representatives regarding software functionality,
enhancement requests, site-based user training, technical support, and
resourcing for implementation efforts.
o Mentor junior employees in the Mine Planning Systems Support group and
throughout the company to provide challenging opportunities for skill
development.
o Participate in departmental budgeting and planning activities.
o Contribute to the development and prioritization of the TSS software
development roadmap.
o Deliver high quality products on time and within budget.
o Coordinate and co-host mine planning software User Group meetings to
promote collaboration and the propagation of leading practices
throughout Newmont's global operations.



Working Conditions

The Consulting Engineer, Mine Planning Systems Support is based at the Denver office in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Performance of the work requires travel (30-50% of work time) to domestic and international operations. Travel can be at a moment's notice to overseas or domestic locations, including Newmont and Non-Newmont locations and Greenfield areas.


Qualifications

* Bachelors degree in mining, geology or related Earth sciences field and
a minimum of 12 years experience in one or more of the following areas:
o Open pit mine planning (pit, dump, stockpile), scheduling and haul
road design
o Equipment forecasting
o Economic pit limit analysis (LG, Floating Cone) and pit phasing /
sequencing
o Ore control and reconciliation
o Geologic field mapping and 3D modeling
o Geostatistics and reserve estimation

* Mine engineering / operations experience that includes:
o Scheduling of mining activities across multiple deposits
o Complex metallurgical requirements (i.e. oxide/sulfide, multiple
metals, blending issues)
o Revenue-based mine planning and/or ore control systems

* Practical understanding of mine operations activities, ideally obtained while
working in a Mine Operations group at a large (>250k tons/day) open pit mine
* Experience with managing and leading small teams effectively
* Ability to manage projects that involve multiple tasks, objectives, and
deadlines
* Thorough understanding of 3D geological modeling, reserve estimation, mine
planning & design concepts using MineSight™
* Minimum 3+ years experience in the Python scripting language using MS Grail™
components
* Strong technical writing and review capabilities
* Experience with process definition and requirements gathering to fit
software solutions to business practices
* Ability to gather and document solution requirements and to communicate
complex issues clearly and efficiently
* Strong critical thinking and problem solving skills
* Able to work independently as well as within a team environment
* Self-motivated, with the ability to set and meet deadlines
* Strong time management and personal organization skills
* Knowledge of pit limit and / or mine sequence optimization methodologies
* Experience with the use and configuration of MineSight Operations™ ore
control systems
* Previous experience in a classroom training / teaching environment highly
desirable

Job
: Technical Services

Primary Location
: USA-CO-Denver