Mining Opportunities and Evaluation Senior Specialist

Oman Investment Authority; Oman; On-site; OMR 30,760 - 46,140; Full time

Job summary

Oman Investment Authority is seeking a professional to provide technical and commercial expertise for scouting and evaluating global mining opportunities. This role involves developing economic models and leading due diligence efforts during transactions.

The ideal candidate will have significant experience in mining operations and corporate development, including familiarity with JORC and NI43-101 reporting standards. A Bachelor's degree in a related field is required, with a preference for a Master's degree.

Qualifications

• Minimum 7 years of combined operations and commercial experience within mining.
• Competent Person status is advantageous.
• Experience in Africa, Central Asia or MENA is valued.

Responsibilities

• Scout and identify potential mining opportunities globally.
• Conduct desktop reviews of mining proposals.
• Build economic models to evaluate investment opportunities.

Skills

Technical resource and reserve interpretation

Mine planning fundamentals

Preliminary economic modeling

Commercial fluency

Education

Bachelor’s degree in mining engineering, geology, metallurgy or mineral processing

Master’s degree in mineral economics or MBA

Job description

Reporting to Growth and Partnership Director.

Job Purpose

Provide the Growth function with embedded technical and commercial expertise to proactively scout, screen and evaluate global mining opportunities, challenge external technical assumptions, build preliminary economics and serve as the technical anchor inside every Growth deal team—from first screening through to investment‑decision support.

Key Accountabilities

Opportunity Scouting

• Proactively scout and identify potential mining and exploration opportunities globally, including off‑market and early‑stage assets.
• Issue an initial technical and economic view on both sourced and inbound opportunities within a defined turnaround time.
• Maintain a live technical pipeline of evaluated targets ranked by quality, risk, strategic fit and capital intensity.
• Work closely with the Business Development Manager to co‑develop origination themes, target assets and focus geographies.

Technical Review and Challenge

• Conduct desktop reviews covering geology, resource and reserve, mining method, processing route, infrastructure, logistics, HSE and ESG.
• Critically review external technical reports (JORC, NI 43‑101, SK‑1300, scoping, PFS and DFS studies) and articulate where assumptions are defensible, optimistic or weakly supported.

Preliminary Economics

• Build first‑pass economic models at FEL‑1 (scoping precision) – basic mine plan, capex and opex benchmarks, by‑product credits, transport, royalties, NPV and IRR.
• Identify the small number of value‑driver assumptions on which each investment thesis depends and stress‑test them.

Due Diligence Leadership – Technical Workstream

• Act as the primary technical contributor from the Growth side during transaction due diligence, working with the Investments and M&A Manager and external technical advisors.
• Coordinate with MDO operations, exploration and technical services teams for deeper diligence beyond the screening stage.
• Represent MDO credibly in technical discussions with miners, joint‑venture partners, sovereign counterparts and investors—both as a listener and a challenger.
• Author the technical sections of Investment Committee papers, Board submissions and OIA decks to a standard that is rigorous, concise and decision‑oriented.

Key Performance Indicators

• Number and quality of proactively identified opportunities.
• Number of opportunities screened per quarter against pipeline volume.
• Turnaround time from opportunity intake to initial technical view (target ten working days).
• Tolerance of preliminary economics versus subsequent fuller due diligence outputs.
• Reduction in MDO reliance on external technical advisors for the screening stage.
• Quality rating of technical inputs into Board and Investment Committee papers.

Working Relationships

• Internal: Growth & Partnership Director, Investments and M&A Manager, Business Development Manager, Technical Services, Operations, Exploration, Finance, HSE & ESG.
• External: Counterparty technical teams, competent persons, mining consultants, JORC/NI43‑101 authors, JV partners, equity research analysts.

Decision‑Making Authority

• Provide independent technical recommendations (go/no‑go/further work) to support decision‑making by the Growth & Partnership Director.
• Commission external technical advisor input within scope and budget pre‑approved by the Growth & Partnership Director.
• Escalate to the Growth & Partnership Director any opportunity where technical risk materially diverges from the counterparty’s stated position or where MDO internal capability is insufficient to validate critical claims.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in mining engineering, geology, metallurgy or mineral processing.
• Master’s degree in mineral economics, mining engineering or MBA preferred.
• Minimum 7 years of combined operations and commercial experience with credibility on both sides of the mine gate.
• Career path drawn from one or more of: mining operations followed by corporate development or technical services; mining consulting (SRK, WSP, AMC, RPM, ERM, Behre Dolbear or equivalents); equity research analyst coverage of the mining sector; technical M&A diligence inside a mining major or mid‑tier.
• Hands‑on exposure to one or more of MDO’s priority commodities—copper, gold, chromite, industrial minerals preferred.
• Working familiarity with JORC, NI43‑101 or SK‑1300 reporting.
• Competent Person status, or a clear pathway to it, is a distinct advantage.
• Africa, Central Asia or MENA project experience highly valued.

Knowledge, Skills & Competencies

• Technical resource and reserve interpretation (block models, classification, conversion, depletion, dilution and recovery).
• Mine planning fundamentals across open‑pit and underground: strip ratio, cut‑off grade strategy and schedule double‑checking.
• Process flowsheet understanding—recovery, by‑product economics, concentrate specifications, deleterious elements.
• Commercial fluency—capex/opex benchmarking, royalty and tax regimes, transport, port and concentrate logistics, payability and treatment/refining charges.
• Preliminary economic modeling and sensitivity analysis.
• Behavioural/business insight—connect geology and engineering with cash flow.
• Decision quality under conditions of incomplete information.
• Curious and proactive; actively seeks out opportunities rather than relying solely on inbound flow.
• Manages ambiguity in early‑stage exploration and farm‑in opportunities.
• Communicates effectively—translates technical complexity into decision‑oriented language for Boards and shareholders.
• Intellectually rigorous; willing to challenge consultants and counterparties—in writing and in the room—with composure.