Consulting Engineer — Underground

Posted: 31 Jan 2012
Apply deadline: 30 Apr 2012
Location: CO-Denver,USA

Job Description:

Description

 Founded in 1921 and publicly traded since 1925, Newmont (www.newmont.com) 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--Underground will report to the Director - Underground Mining Engineering and others as required by the organizational matrix structure, including reporting to a Project or Mining Director when assigned to a project. The incumbent may be required to manage and direct the activities of other professionals whether individuals, small teams, or consultants. The breadth of the scope of the role, and the management required will involve the tackling of complex, diverse and conflicting operational design objectives.
• The Consulting Engineer--Underground is responsible for providing mining engineering and mine planning services to meet the business needs of the project pipeline and in support of existing operations at Newmont.
• The Consulting Engineer--Underground performs complex engineering duties on major projects of significance to Newmont. The role encompasses a range of engineering and technical activities, involving some or all of the steps from identifying substantial technical problems and opportunities; through devising engineering approaches processes and plans to resolve them; to researching, justifying, acquiring and assembling the resources to implement the plans. The role might include leading teams or cooperating with other disciplines to obtain a solution that is optimal to Newmont.

Essential Duties:

• Develop and complete Mine Engineering for Target ID, Order Of Magnitude and Stages 1 to 4 studies of mining projects and potential projects. The process must demonstrate both a deep understanding of the technical challenges and a sufficiently broad view, obtained from experience and consultation with others, of the context and environment of the project in order to deliver a comprehensive and coherent study, also taking account of the need to conform to relevant regulatory requirements and company standards.
• To this end contribute to, and when required, lead teams assembled for the purpose of assessing potential targets for acquisition, focusing on the scope for such prospects to become underground mines of value to Newmont. Use highly developed engineering and modeling capability; mine design, planning and scheduling skills; sound knowledge of resource geology, geotech, hydrology and ventilation; and financial analysis techniques in making such assessments, where necessary identifying and acquiring skills from consultants, managing them to ensure the quality and timeliness of results. Assemble the results of these analyses into presentations and reports suitable for supporting decision making by senior managers that may be of substantial importance to the company. Where necessary back up this work in discussions, forums and reviews, displaying a robust understanding of the work based upon sound research.  
• In pursuit of improvement and value addition, systematically assess, evaluate, validate and/or audit engineering work of others whether contained in reports, research documents, studies, designs, plans, procedures, scopes of work, contracts or schedules; and digest information relevant to a problem or project, whether in the form of documents, reports, plans, drawings, digital models or raw engineering data. Undertake site visits and targeted observations in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of relevant issues. Conduct risk and opportunity reviews. Perform detailed research on areas of particular interest or concern, or to remove material uncertainty or doubt. Recommend, where appropriate, modifications to practice including, where necessary, modifications customized specifically for the purpose. Develop novel approaches to overcoming constraints and obstacles where there may be conflicting design requirements, difficulties in scheduling, problematic interactions or particular challenges of coordination. Report and present summaries arising from such analysis and provide advice on implementation of modifications, improvements, plans of action and remedies. 
• Prepare resource and reserve statements for reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission. This task requires a high level of Mine Engineering experience and ability, akin to that of the Chief Engineers at operating sites who are responsible for similar tasks.
• Provide engineering input to decisions regarding the selection implementation and adaptation for purpose of new technology, including contribution to the development or modification of relevant mine engineering software. Act as Newmont’s leader on relevant research and development projects, providing well developed engineering knowledge, a good understanding of potential applications and management of the projects based upon Newmont’s needs and strategic priorities. Communicate with relevant operational staff and management in order to extract maximum value from the implementation of new technologies and application of research outcomes. 
• In all works ensure plans, budgets and schedules are sufficiently developed; management systems and processes are adequately applied; and personal attention is appropriately directed to ensure that important deadlines are met and budget constraints are adhered to. Ensure that consultants and contractors are managed accordingly.
• Communicate and interact with customer representatives and stakeholders throughout the conduct of projects and work programs in order to ensure that outcomes are satisfactorily delivered and objectives are met. 
• Provide expert underground mining engineering opinion and input to relevant work in other departments including HSLP, business excellence, supply, finance, IT and ESR in order to assist them in their objectives, ensuring that important mine engineering considerations are properly represented and accounted for. Also obtain cooperation when implementing change management in situations where mine engineering projects have implications for other departments. 
• Provide expert advice and research skills to engineers at operations, including provision of advice and advanced instruction on the application of mine engineering related software and tools. Champion the adoption of improved methods and tools at sites, assisting with justification of investment of resources through to implementation.  
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of standards, providing engineering input grounded in detailed practical knowledge, current knowledge of practice across company operations and communication with site engineers and other relevant staff. Lead periodic audits and evaluations in support of standards, with particular emphasis on the standard of mine engineering work and engineering practice with relevance to HSLP.

Constraints, Framework & Boundaries

 

The Consulting Engineer—Underground develops feasibility studies or detailed operational designs of mining projects based on industry standards and best practices.  The scope of work is conforms to:

• Corporate objectives, which include all company policies and standards including ESR, legal, engineering and other requirements as outlined within the Newmont policy and standards documentation.
• Directives from the Director - Underground Mine Engineering
• Project requirements specified by Project Managers and Mining Managers
• Industry codes including SEC, SME, JORC, and NI 43-101.

Working Conditions/Environment

 

The Consulting Engineer—Underground is based in a corporate administrative and technical office in Denver.  Performance of the work requires travel (30-50% of work time) to domestic and international operations. Travel can be at short notice to overseas or domestic locations, including Newmont and non-Newmont locations and greenfields areas.

 

Qualifications

 

• Tertiary Qualification in Mining Engineering.
• Relevant certificates of competency – certification as Professional Engineer, Mine Manager’s Certificate of Competency.
• In excess of 8 years of experience in underground mining. Some surface mining experience is also of value.
• In excess of 5 years of experience in underground operations, including practical experience in hands-on underground operations.
• Experience as a Mining Engineer or equivalent at a mine site with exposure to multiple mining methods
• Previous overseas work experience desirable.
• Extensive mine planning experience in a range of mining applications.
• Knowledge of exploration methods, resource estimation.
• Experience in differing ore deposits for gold and multi-element base metals.
• Seasoned knowledge of mine methods, mine design, production scheduling, equipment selection, reserve estimation, maintenance and expert systems. High level of competence in the use of mine planning software, including optimal techniques and cash flow analysis.
• High level of experience in project evaluation at all stages from Target ID to Stage 4.
• Well networked into industry specialists and consultants.
• Ability to build and maintain strong communications network with peers, Project Managers, Mine Managers, Chief Engineers, and JV partner representatives.
• Strong problem solving and 3D visualization skills.
• Strong technical writing, group presentation, and interpersonal skills including cultural sensitivity.

View this Job on Misco Jobs web site