Mine Planning Engineer

Tharisa Plc; Noordwes; On-site; ZAR 700,000 - 1,100,000; Full time

Job summary

Tharisa Plc in South Africa seeks a seasoned Mine Planning Lead to oversee underground and opencast short-term planning, reconciliation, and project planning activities. You will collaborate with the operations team and input from MRM disciplines to deliver practical, data-driven mine plans.

The role emphasizes coordinating with the MTP, STP and WOP, optimizing access, dewatering, and ensuring plans meet safety and production targets while leveraging scheduling software and accurate reporting.

Responsibilities

• Lead the reconciliation process for mine planning and oversee construction and project planning activities.
• Coordinate with the operations team and other Mineral Resources Management disciplines to produce practical mine planning solutions.
• Influence alignment of MTP, STP and WOP ensuring practical planning execution and safety compliance.

Job description

Purpose of Role

To oversee all underground and opencast (portion of) operational Short Term, reconciliation, construction and mine planning improvement project activities and collaborate with the operational team, gathering inputs from other Mineral Resources Management (MRM) disciplines to produce specific mine planning engineering solutions for reconciliation, construction activities and specific projects.

Purpose of Role

To oversee all underground and opencast (portion of) operational Short Term, reconciliation, construction and mine planning improvement project activities and collaborate with the operational team, gathering inputs from other Mineral Resources Management (MRM) disciplines to produce specific mine planning engineering solutions for reconciliation, construction activities and specific projects.

Role Context

Reconciliation, Construction and Mine Planning Projects

• Lead, own and develop the reconciliation process, mine planning construction activities and specific mine planning projects and team, accounting for equipment availability, workforce scheduling and production targets to deliver quality mine project plans.
• Provide technical assistance to translate and implement the MTP mining designs and planning into the 3-month rolling operational practical plans with specific focus on optimising destination scheduling, mine accesses, dewatering and other construction activities.
• Drive the alignment between and continuity of the MTP, STP and the WOP, ensuring practical planning execution by the pit operational team with compliance exceeding 85%.
• Test the effectiveness of the plans to identify gaps and improve the quality of the overall mine planning and implementation.
• Enhance the use of planning software systems to support accurate, cost effective and efficient tools able to manage TM’s business interests.
• Manage the delivery of pit balanced ore-mix-flow and run-of-mine stockpiles build-up to meet and exceed both volume and grades plant feed expectations/budget.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

• Conduct and oversee detailed underground and opencast mine layout designs to align the LTP and MTP strategy into the execution of the WOP and STP.
• Conduct frequent mine visits to ensure the plan is relevant, practical and considers the physical mining conditions and challenges.
• Liaise with the mine operations team to ensure the planning activities are aligned with the status in the mine.
• Manage destination scheduling using mining scheduling software, to simultaneously schedule mining and dumping, providing an up-to-date view of the source and destination of every step in the process.
• Oversee and produce elements of the WOP and STP.

Compliance, Risk and Safety

• Provide guidance to the responsible opencast and underground area’s Short-Term Plan (STP), Medium-Term Plan (MTP) and the approved geotechnical parameters to ensure adherence to pit boundaries/limits.
• Monitor compliance of plans to the safety, geotechnical and legal requirements of the planning process to mitigate safety risks.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify system and process improvements within the mine planning horizons and implement the approved initiatives to consistently improve the quality of the plans.
• Enhance the use of planning software systems by internal Tharisa Minerals (TM) stakeholders to support the delivery of plans in a timely and a cost-effective manner.
• Introduce initiatives to consistently improve the quality of the reconciliation processes and the entire planning cycle (MTP, STP and WOP) including grade and volumes.

Data Analytics and Reporting

• Draft and deliver mine planning reports and minutes to provide a view of all mine-planning activities, meetings and pit visits.
• Draft and submit Spatial and Volumetric Reconciliation Reports for actual performance against all planning targets (WOP, STP, MTP) for all mining functions including drilling and blasting, load and hauling, RC drilling, strategic and short-term accesses, waste destinations etc., ensuring compliance exceeds 85%.

Resource Management

• Provide input into required changes in resources (financial or non-financial) to enable the achievement of team and/or own objectives.
• Determine resource needs of the team and/or own area of work to achieve business outcomes.
• Request and allocate required assets and/or resources for the fulfilment of work objectives to guarantee quality outputs.
• Monitor the use of assets and resources within the team and own area of responsibility, to ensure assets and resources are consistently and appropriately utilised and managed.
• Provide staff with day-to-day direction and tasks aligned with Departmental procedures, to enable the usage of less resources more efficiently.

Stakeholder Relations

• Communicate with all relevant Departments on issues of the area of speciality. Liaise across the relevant Departments by engaging with the appropriate stakeholders to ensure all stakeholders remain abreast of Departmental objectives, any potential derailers are appropriately managed and duplication of work is avoided.
• Communicate with internal and/or external stakeholders, where required, to achieve work objectives and to maintain relationships.