Principal Engineer - Acid Rock Drainage

Our client is an international mining company. The Company's principal product and global support groups include: Iron Ore, Energy, Industrial Material, Aluminum, Copper, Diamonds, Exploration and Technology

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Generally, the mission is multi-faceted and includes

• Instituting Acid Rock Drainage (ARD) management as a principal influence on the direction and value of the project including assessing the volume, nature and costs of ARD in operations and closure
• Providing novel and pragmatic approaches to management of ARD signature that adds significant value to the project
• Progressively increases knowledge and reduces risks during the implementation of these approaches.

Specifically:

• Manage and resource the collection of data and modeling activities attached to water and salt balances in the proposed operating schemes of all life plans and closure schemes for the mine.
• This includes the use of consultant service providers and direct employees, including those assigned by project Directors for specific tasks in this work
• The principal engineer has the right of veto over resourcing of new tasks in these activities and the right to replace resources in case of poor performance.
• Maintain an integrated schedule and plan for data collection, modeling and design activities using the existing integrated project schedule as a guide
• This includes targeting and minimization of ARD volume and salt loading meeting the requirements of completion of the pre-feasibility study as agreed to by the Technical Director, progressively adding to or at least preserving project value while reducing project risk.

Specific items included are:

• All of life and post closure dynamic water and salt balances.
• Assessment and empirical confirmation of models of salt loadings in pit water and heap infiltration water.
• Promotion of integrated project strategies, and all of life plans, with assessment of water and salts loadings for these strategies and plans, targeting footprint reduction while optimizing project value.
• Hydro-geological modeling in support of dynamic water balances.
• Provision of advice on adequacy of background data collection methodology and ore and waste/residue material characterization (this information is also collected for EIA preparation), resourcing and managing programs to fill any gaps in integrated knowledge.
• Management of empirical test work on cover schemes that are relevant to closure planning.
• Water deportment, sourcing and treatment strategy, including assessment of existing and novel technologies for treatment of acid and sulfate bearing water at various strengths.
• Integration with process water requirements and pit dewatering studies.
• Iterate around integrated methods of approaching mine and process development strategies that at least maintain value but significantly reduce (e.g. by 80%) the water and salts footprint at closure of the project based on a large open pit (e.g. 3 billion tones extracted) and surface heap leaching.
• Provide quantitative assessments of the ARD implications of approaches to mine and process development proposed by others (to be agreed to by the Technical Director or as part of the ingoing scope of PFS studies work), for inclusion in detailed design, engineering and costing.

EXPERIENCE

• At least 15 years engineering experience in the mining sector including ARD
• Experience in mitigating ARD, especially at mine closure
• Ideally has worked for a major global mining company
• Management experience in scheduling and supervising projects in a highly coordinated way. 

LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS

• Leadership qualities and communication skills which instill confidence when dealing with employees both one-on-one and in a group setting.
• The ability to interact on a daily basis with the senior leadership team.
• An entrepreneurial orientation, yet the interpersonal skills and savvy to work within the existing company culture to affect change.
• Exceptional oral and written communication in English is required and a working knowledge of Spanish is helpful.
• The flexibility and problem-solving capability to address and resolve issues that face a business in a dynamic industry.
• A high energy level and strong action orientation

EDUCATION

• Postgraduate degree in Geochemistry, Geology, Mineralogy, Chemistry or Metallurgy.
• High level of safety training and awareness in industrial environments.

Please respond with resume and cover letter stating salary requirements / history - and quoting job source (i.e. InfoMine / CareerMine Reference number) to :