Senior Underground Drill & Blast Engineer (Located in Liberia)

Avesoro; Fatih; On-site; TRY 4,310,000 - 8,142,000; Full time

Job summary

Avesoro is seeking an experienced Senior Underground Drill & Blast Engineer to join our underground gold mining operation. You will design and optimize long-hole drilling and blasting for development and production, ensuring fragmentation, advance, dilution, and recovery targets are met while maintaining the highest safety standards.

You will monitor performance, analyze results, and drive continuous improvements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mining Engineering or related field.
• Minimum 5 years of professional underground mining experience with drill and blast focus.
• Experience in underground gold mining operations is required.
• Familiarity with Deswik/Datamine/AutoCAD and blast analysis tools is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Design and optimize long-hole drill and blast in underground stopes and development.
• Prepare and optimize drill and blast designs to meet fragmentation, advance, dilution, and recovery targets.
• Monitor drilling accuracy and blast performance; identify, investigate, and rectify deviations.
• Conduct reconciliation of planned vs. actual stope performance to improve designs.
• Ensure compliance with safety, explosives regulations, and HSE procedures.
• Provide technical guidance to junior engineers and operations teams.

Skills

Drill & blast optimization

Long-hole drilling

Underground mining

Fragmentation optimization

Safety management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mining Engineering

Tools

Deswik.UGDB

Aegis

Datamine Studio UG

iRing

AutoCAD

JKSimBlast

Job description

Avesoro is a leading gold mining company operating in West Africa, committed to safety, operational excellence, and sustainable mining practices. We are looking for an experienced Senior Underground Drill & Blast Engineer to join our underground gold mining operation and contribute to safe, efficient, and optimized drilling and blasting activities.

Key Responsibilities

• Responsible for long-hole stope drill & blast design and optimization, including production ring design, burden and spacing optimization, slot/raise design, charging and initiation sequences, and blast timing.
• Prepare and optimize drill and blast designs for underground development and production activities, ensuring required fragmentation, advance, dilution, recovery, and profile control targets are achieved.
• Monitor drilling accuracy and blast performance, including fragmentation, overbreak, underbreak, dilution, ore loss, advance, and overall blast efficiency, and implement corrective actions where required.
• Conduct planned versus actual stope performance reconciliation and use the results to continuously improve drill and blast designs.
• Optimize explosive consumption, drilling productivity, fragmentation, advance rates, dilution control, and overall blast performance while maintaining high safety standards.
• Consider brow stability and review relevant geological and geotechnical information when preparing drill and blast designs.
• Coordinate closely with underground operations to ensure drilling and blasting activities are completed safely and in accordance with production schedules.
• Provide technical support for development headings, stopes, production drilling, and other underground excavation activities.
• Ensure compliance with explosives regulations, underground mining standards, and company HSE procedures.
• Participate in blast risk assessments and ensure appropriate control measures are implemented.
• Investigate drilling and blasting incidents, deviations, and performance issues, conduct root cause analyses, and recommend corrective actions.
• Maintain accurate blast records, technical reports, designs, reconciliation data, and performance databases.
• Support the selection and technical evaluation of drilling equipment, explosives, detonators, and blasting technologies.
• Provide technical guidance, coaching, and mentoring to junior engineers and operational personnel.
• Work closely with Geology, Geotechnical, Mine Planning, and Production teams to continuously optimize stope extraction performance, recovery, dilution, and overall mining efficiency.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Mining Engineering or a related engineering discipline.

Experience

• Minimum 5 years of professional experience in underground mining, with significant experience in drill and blast engineering.
• Proven experience in underground gold mining operations is required.
• Strong experience in underground development and production drilling and blasting.
• Deswik.UGDB, Aegis, Datamine Studio UG, iRing, AutoCAD; blast analysis software such as JKSimBlast is an advantage.
• Experience in mechanized underground mining operations is highly preferred.
• International or expatriate mining experience is considered an advantage.
• Development and production blasting
• Long-hole drilling and blasting
• Explosives and initiation systems
• Charging and firing practices
• Fragmentation optimization
• Dilution and ore loss control
• Drill accuracy analysis
• Blast performance analysis
• Drill & blast optimization
• Technical reporting and documentation
• Relevant mine planning / drill & blast software

Skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent planning and organizational abilities.
• Strong understanding of underground mining cycles and production requirements.
• Strong focus on safety and explosives management.
• Ability to analyze operational data and improve drill and blast performance.
• Effective communication, leadership, and teamwork skills.
• Ability to work effectively with multicultural underground mining teams.
• Ability to work under pressure in a production-focused mining environment.
• Commitment to safety, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Proficiency in written and spoken English.