Senior mine planning engineer - underground

GROW WITH PHU BIA MINING. DEVELOP YOUR FUTURE. REACH YOUR GOALS WITH HIGH IMPACT RESULTS. Advance your career and be a part of a high-performing mining company in Laos, with both active operations and a significant growth project pipeline. Permanent position reporting to the Mine Planning Superintendent- Mine Technical Services. Attractive 5 days on and 2 days off based in the corporate office in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, a safe, vibrant city with an extensive expatriate network in the heart of Southeast Asia.

PanAust Limited is an Australian-headquartered copper and gold producer in Laos, with pre-development and exploration assets in Laos, Papua New Guinea and Chile. The Company is focused on a sustainable business model associated with the production and sale of copper and gold, delivery of production goals and growth. Phu Bia Mining is the Laos subsidiary company of PanAust. Its producing assets are the Phu Kham Copper-Gold Operation and the Ban Houayxai Gold-Silver Operation. In addition, there are currently several open pit and underground projects in various stages of Scoping and Feasibility studies.

Responsibilities

The Senior Mine Planning Engineer - Underground is a critical position within the Mine Technical Services team based in the capital of Laos, Vientiane. The role reports to the Mine Planning Superintendent and will focus on delivering underground mine designs, schedules and economic analysis for Phu Bia Mining underground development and growth project studies.

Duties of the Senior Mine Planning Engineer will include compliance with PanAust policies, standards, procedures and business code of conduct. The role will lead underground mine planning and study work for Phu Bia Mining growth projects, translating geological, geotechnical, hydrogeological, metallurgical, operational and commercial inputs into safe, practical and value-focused mine designs, schedules, cost estimates and implementation plans. You will be directly working on taking projects from study phases into production, together with a technical services team comprising of open pit mining engineers, geotechnical engineers, metallurgists and various support staff.

General Responsibilities:

• Lead and deliver underground mine designs, including lateral and vertical development, stope designs at the feasibility study level.
• Lead and deliver mine production schedules, including material movements, development advance, drill and blast physicals, backfill physicals and equipment requirements using Deswik and other approved mine-planning systems.
• Execute the mine-planning workstream for underground scoping, prefeasibility and feasibility studies, including evaluation of mining methods, access and portal options, ventilation and escape systems, pumping and water-management infrastructure, backfill requirements, materials handling and surface interfaces.
• Develop and maintain auditable scheduling and cost-model inputs for capital and operating estimates, project valuations, annual budgets, Life of Mine plans and reforecasts.
• Prepare and present clear technical reports, study chapters, technical notes, approval memoranda, board and management papers, presentations, design sign-off packages and handover documentation.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary inputs from geology, geotechnical and hydrogeology, metallurgy, infrastructure, environment, finance, operations, maintenance, risk, sourcing and external consultants.
• Identify key technical, schedule, cost, execution and operational risks.
• Define practical controls, validation work and decision points, and maintain alignment between the risk register, designs, schedules and project economics.
• Support investment approvals by explaining the technical basis, options considered, staging logic, assumptions, sensitivities, uncertainties and forward-work requirements.
• Support study-to-implementation transition by defining design status, data limitations, outstanding work, responsibilities, change-control requirements and operational readiness needs.
• Undertake technical due diligence and tender support for underground mining contractors, including evaluation of capability, equipment, methods, mobilisation, maintenance, technical systems, cost inputs and execution risk.
• Provide technical support to operating teams during implementation, reconcile actual performance against study assumptions and update designs, schedules and forecasts when conditions or business priorities change.
• Mentoring and development of junior engineers.
• Build good working relationships with the company, consultants and contractors.
• Continue to develop and review standard work practices.
• Identify critical risks and opportunities and implement effective management strategies.

Skills and experience

Essential Tertiary qualification in Mining Engineering or a closely related discipline. 7 + years of experience in underground hard rock mining. Substantial practical experience in underground hard-rock mine planning, preferably across both study and operating environments. Demonstrated delivery of underground mine designs, schedules and cost inputs at scoping, prefeasibility and feasibility-study level and presentation to senior management. High proficiency in Deswik mine design and scheduling applications. Sound knowledge of long-hole open stoping, development design, backfill, ground-support interfaces, ventilation, pumping, materials handling and contractor mining. Experience integrating geotechnical, hydrogeological, geological, metallurgical and infrastructure inputs into mine plans. Ability to prepare technically defensible reports, approval papers, presentations, budgets and handover documentation for senior decision makers. Experience in managing the process of transferring study level designs into operationally ready designs to execution teams. Professional English communication skills. Experience working in a multicultural or developing-country operating environment is desirable. Demonstrated ability for collaborative work in multi-disciplinary teams. Demonstrated ability to work to deadlines. Exceptional analytical capability, commercial acumen and attention to detail. Significant site-based operational experience.

Highly Desirable

Experience in cost estimation and financial modelling. Expatriate experience, particularly in SE Asia. Experience with complementary mine-planning, geological and visualisation software is desirable. Consulting and studies experience will be looked at favourably. Experience with contractor technical evaluations, due diligence, tender support or execution-readiness reviews is highly desirable. Experience with ventilation and dewatering simulation software.

Our culture

High-performance outcomes, Respect for people, Integrity, Excellence in communications, High-calibre people and Alignment of employee to company objectives.

Benefits

We offer competitive remuneration packaging including bonus incentives (potential tax advantages), as well as medical insurance, children’s education and housing allowance (if applicable) and more. When at site, our modern mine camp provides a range of Western and Asian food, wet mess as well as sporting and recreational facilities, including football field, gym and pool tables. PanAust is focussed on building a workforce that embraces diversity and inclusion, aiming to create an environment that brings us all together through connection, security and community and harnessing what makes us unique. As an Equal Opportunity employer, we encourage and welcome applications from all genders, abilities, generations and cultural backgrounds. Please note that due to the volume of applications we receive, only shortlisted candidates may be contacted regarding their application status. We are not working with agencies to recruit this role. If you’d like to learn more about us, please visit www.PanAust.com.au.