Senior Mining Engineer

Verrus; Idaho; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Verrus seeks a Senior Mining Engineer to join the team as the project moves toward construction and production in the western United States. The role supports detailed engineering, mine design, scheduling, and cost modeling with a focus on open-pit oxide and heap-leach operations.

The position starts remote with regular travel to the project site during Detailed Engineering, with relocation to site required for pre-production ramp up and eventual production, reporting to the Principal Mining

Qualifications

• B.Sc. in Mining Engineering or related discipline.
• P.E. or eligibility for licensure is considered an asset.
• 6+ years in open-pit mining, including at least 4 years in mine planning or technical services roles onsite.
• Direct experience in open-pit mining required; oxide gold and heap-leach experience highly regarded.
• Experience with Deswik, MineSight, or Vulcan for mine planning and scheduling; strong Excel modeling.

Responsibilities

• Develop pit designs, pushbacks, haulage profiles, dumps, and leach pad interfaces.
• Deliver short, mid, and long-range mine schedules to support permitting and pre-production planning.
• Support cost modeling and trade-off analyses to maximize NPV and minimize unit costs.
• Assist in equipment selection, fleet sizing, and maintenance strategies.
• Coordinate with geology, metallurgy, and processing teams to integrate recovery and geometallurgy.
• Provide mentorship to junior engineers and coordinate with environmental, permitting, and construction teams.

Skills

Mine planning

Scheduling

Cost modeling

Team mentorship

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Safety leadership

Education

B.Sc. in Mining Engineering

P.E. eligibility

Tools

Deswik

MineSight

Vulcan

Excel

Python

Geotechnical modeling

Job description

Location: Western USA / Remote (prior to production)

About the Company

The company is a well funded gold development business advancing a large scale oxide gold project in the western United States. With the project moving through detailed engineering toward mine development and operations, the company is seeking a Senior Mining Engineer to join its growing team. This role will report to the Principal Mining Engineer and play a key role in mine design, scheduling, cost modeling, and operational planning as the project advances toward construction and production.

About the Role

The Senior Mining Engineer will be responsible for assisting in the development of the project mine plan during Detailed Engineering before transitioning to site for early operations ramp up. This includes pit and phase design, mine scheduling, haulage analysis, mining rate optimization, mine costing build up, and trade off studies between mining and processing. This position requires a strong background in open pit operations, preferably gold oxide and heap leach, medium and long term mine planning, and a hands on understanding of how planning decisions translate to safe, efficient, and value driven production.

The role is expected to begin as a remote based position with regular travel to the project site throughout the Detailed Engineering phase before transitioning to a site based role within the Technical Services department. Relocation to perform regular work onsite will be required as part of the pre production ramp up into full production.

Key Responsibilities

Safety & Operational Discipline:

Champion a safety-first culture in all mine planning and fieldwork, ensuring compliance with OSHA, MSHA, and company standards.

Lead and imbed safety by design and complete risk reviews to ensure safe pit, haul road, and dump designs.

Mine Scheduling and Design:

Develop pit designs, pushbacks, haulage profiles, dumps, and leach pad interface plans consistent with the Life-of-Mine (LOM) strategy.

Deliver short, mid, and long range mine schedules (phase, bench, and annual) to support permitting, pre-production planning, and the transition into operations.

Assist in optimization studies using economic pit shells, cutoff-grade analysis, and haulage models to maximize NPV and minimize unit cost.

Support equipment selection, fleet sizing, maintenance strategies, and mine infrastructure layout in coordination with consultants and internal team.

Collaborate with process, metallurgical, and geotechnical teams to ensure integration of recovery, slope, and geometallurgical assumptions into mine designs.

Develop leach pad stacking plans across planning intervals that align with leach planning constraints and assumptions.

Support the building and updating of detailed mining cost models, including applicable trade-off studies and alternative analysis.

Evaluate alternative mining rates, bench heights, and pit phasing strategies to support project economics and schedule flexibility.

Support development of key Detailed Engineering cost and financial modeling deliverables.

Operational Readiness:

Assist in defining technical services systems and processes for grade control, reconciliation, dispatch, and short-range mine planning.

Participate in development of operating procedures for drilling, blasting, haulage, and material placement (including leach stacking).

Participate in the development of mine engineering procedures around designs, scheduling, and cost modeling in support of operational ramp-up.

Provide mentorship and technical guidance to junior engineers and technicians.

Coordinate closely with environmental, permitting, and construction teams to align mine development timelines with the overall schedule.

Collaborate with mining consultants and other external partners contributing to mine design and optimization.

Support bid evaluations for contract mining, fleet procurement, and construction packages as required.

Qualifications & Experience

Education:

B.Sc. in Mining Engineering or related discipline.

P.E. or eligibility for licensure is considered an asset.

Experience:

6+ years in open-pit mining, including at least 4 years in mine planning or technical services roles onsite. Experience in mine operations or supervision is considered an asset.

Direct experience in open-pit mining required. Oxide gold and heap-leach operations experience is highly regarded.

Feasibility or pre-production project experience highly regarded.

Technical Expertise:

High-level of proficiency in mine planning software such as Deswik, MineSight, or Vulcan

Strong experience and expertise in Mine Scheduling (STP/MTP/LTP). Experience in MPSO or similar is strongly preferred.

Strong proficiency in Excel, including financial modeling and cost analysis.

Familiarity with geologic modeling and recovery modeling integration.

Familiarity with Geotechnical Engineering and slope stability considerations.

Experience with Python coding preferred, especially related to resource model coding.

Familiarity of NI 43-101 and feasibility study reporting standards.

Leadership & Communication:

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, able to collaborate across disciplines (geology, metallurgy, processing, environment).

Proven ability to coordinate complex schedules and deliver high-quality technical work on time.

Demonstrated mentorship of junior engineering staff.

Safety:

Commitment to "zero harm" and continuous improvement.

Embodies the company' core values of safety, accountability, teamwork, and innovation.