The posting
At First Quantum, we free the talent of our people by taking a very different approach which is underpinned by a very different, very definite culture – the “First Quantum Way”.
Working with us is not like working anywhere else, which is why we recruit people who will take a bolder, smarter approach to spot opportunities, solve problems and deliver results.
Our culture is all about encouraging you to think independently and to challenge convention to deliver the best result. That’s how we continue to achieve extraordinary things in extraordinary locations.
Job description:
Purpose of the role
The Senior Mine Engineer – Mine Planning & Strategy develops the mine plans, schedules and value studies that link the Life of Mine strategy to safe, achievable and value-maximising production at Trident. The role spans the planning cycle from Life of Mine through to the 3–24 month horizon, and drives business improvement and value engineering initiatives across the operation.
All appointees share a common set of core responsibilities and are placed in one of two focus areas: Medium-Term Planning, or Strategic Mine Planning. Placement depends on experience and business need and may change over time. The role works closely with Mine Operations, Short-Term Planning, Geology, Geotechnical, Hydrogeology, Drill & Blast, Maintenance, Finance and Sustainability.
Job & Candidate Requirements
Key Responsibilities – Core (all focus areas):
Mine Planning & Optimisation
- Develop mine designs, sequences and schedules that are safe, technically sound and aligned with production, equipment, infrastructure and cost targets.
- Evaluate alternative mining sequences and scenarios, and recommend the option with the best balance of value, risk and practicality.
- Complete truck and loading fleet requirements, haul profile, cycle time, utilisation and productivity assessments.
- Coordinate planning assumptions with Geology, Geotechnical, Hydrogeology and Drill & Blast teams, and integrate updated resource models.
- Monitor performance against plan, undertake reconciliation and root-cause analysis of material deviations, and recommend practical changes.
- Conduct regular field inspections to validate planning assumptions and understand operational constraints.
Technical & Financial Support
- Provide mine planning inputs into annual budgets, forecasts, business plans and mining cost models.
- Develop and maintain equipment, productivity, material movement and cost assumptions.
- Interface with Finance and technical teams to support decision-making through financial modelling.
- Maintain accurate planning data, assumptions, designs and supporting documentation.
Stakeholder Engagement & Reporting
- Communicate priorities, constraints, risks, project findings and improvement outcomes to Operations, Technical Services and senior leadership.
- Prepare technical reports, investment proposals and senior leadership or board-level presentations.
- Collaborate with external consultants and internal stakeholders on studies, feasibility work and audits.
Leadership & Capability Development
- Provide technical guidance and mentoring to Mine Engineers and junior planning personnel, and review their work.
- Promote consistent engineering and planning standards and strong collaboration between planning and operations.
Safety & Risk
- Ensure mine plans incorporate geotechnical, operational and safety requirements, with planning-related risks identified and mitigated.
- Ensure designs and plans comply with site standards, statutory requirements and accepted mining engineering practice.
Key Responsibilities – Focus Area (placement dependent):
Medium-Term Planning (3–24 month horizon)
- Develop and maintain rolling medium-term mine plans that translate the Life of Mine and annual plans into detailed, executable schedules.
- Develop stage plans, bench progression and practical equipment deployment strategies.
- Balance ore delivery, waste movement and stripping while maintaining ore exposure, mining flexibility and future access.
- Identify constraints and bottlenecks early enough to allow corrective action.
- Support waste dump, stockpile, haul road and other mine infrastructure plans.
- Work with Short-Term Planning and Mine Operations to convert medium-term plans into weekly and monthly execution plans, and ensure future areas are ready for access, drilling, dewatering and infrastructure.
Strategic Mine Planning (annual to Life of Mine)
- Develop and evaluate long-term mine plans aligned with corporate strategy and resource optimisation.
- Support or lead Life of Mine studies, scenario analysis and economic evaluations.
- Optimise pit designs, haulage systems, equipment selection and scheduling for NPV maximisation.
- Conduct risk and sensitivity analysis for major capital investment decisions.
Business Improvement & Value Engineering
- Identify operational inefficiencies and improvement opportunities across mining, processing and supply chain.
- Lead or support Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen or Theory of Constraints initiatives to improve productivity and reduce costs.
- Apply value engineering techniques to assess alternatives in mine design, processing routes and capital projects.
- Facilitate cross-functional value driver workshops and cost-benefit analyses.
- Design and track KPIs to measure the impact of improvement projects, and support site teams with change management to sustain improvements.
Qualifications Required:
- Bachelor’s degree in Mining Engineering or equivalent recognised mining qualification.
- Post-graduate qualifications in Business, Finance or Project Management advantageous.
Experience & Skills Required:
- 8+ years’ open-pit mining experience, with significant experience in mine planning.
- At least 3 years in a medium-term planning, strategic planning or business improvement role.
- Strong practical experience in mine planning and scheduling within a large-scale open-pit operation; hard-rock/base metals experience advantageous.
- Experience translating strategic mine plans into executable schedules, and/or evaluating long-term plans and business cases.
- Proficient in mine planning software (e.g. Deswik, RPMGlobal, Surpac, Whittle) and strong Excel-based modelling and data analysis.
- Strong understanding of open-pit mining methods, production scheduling, fleet requirements, haulage and mine infrastructure.
- Strong financial literacy (NPV, IRR, cost modelling, cost-per-tonne benchmarking).
- Ability to extract and interpret data from fleet management systems (e.g. Modular, Hexagon, Pitram).
- Experience with continuous improvement and root-cause tools (Lean, Six Sigma, 5 Whys, Fishbone, Pareto) preferred.
- Previous experience mentoring or providing technical leadership to other engineers preferred.
Key Competencies Required:
- Strong operational and practical mindset, with high analytical and problem-solving ability.
- Able to identify future constraints before they affect production and to evaluate trade-offs across options.
- End-to-end value chain understanding, from resource to ROM to plant and product.
- High attention to detail without losing sight of the broader mine plan, value and outcomes.
- Excellent communication, stakeholder engagement and influencing ability across Operations, Technical Services, Finance and senior leadership.
- Project management and change leadership; comfortable leading workshops and challenging assumptions.
- Able to work effectively in a multicultural, site-based mining environment, with strong coaching and knowledge-transfer capability.
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