Senior Engineer II Software User Development

PURPOSE

 

The Senior Engineer II, TSS User Development is a specialist across a broad range of geological, geostatistical and engineering skills and is responsible for providing global technical software user support and consulting services for Newmont’s open-pit mine planning and geology software users worldwide.  This software currently supports business-critical geologic and resource modeling, mine engineering and operational functions at Newmont’s open pit operations in Nevada, Peru, Mexico, Indonesia and Africa, as well as project evaluation functions at Newmont’s Inverness office.

The position has a diverse scope alternating between technical process analyses, technical software user support and consulting projects as required by business priorities.  This position will work in a quasi matrix structure directly reporting to the Manager, TSS User Development, but maintains ties to corporate and operating site senior staff to gather feedback on current software configurations, user training needs, and site requirements for future software configuration changes.

The Senior Engineer II, TSS User Development will draw on industry experience, strong technical software skills, and education to solve complex technical software problems. The position will rely, as needed, on first principals, fundamental mathematical and mine engineering concepts, operational practices and theory and broad industry knowledge to ensure practical solutions and training are provided to the user community.

The Senior Engineer II, TSS User Development is responsible for the development and modification of site software configurations and scripts to streamline workflows.  These scripts may include functionality for geology, geostatistics and resource modeling, ultimate pit definition, short- and long-term mine planning functions and reconciliation of planned-to-actual material movements.  Additional responsibilities include preparation of software and training documentation and the training of users in the application of the software, configurations, and scripts.

 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

 

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

§  User Support

§ Work with site operations senior technical staff and Technical Services to understand project and business priorities to provide site-specific, customized mine planning, geology, and resource estimation solutions.

§  Develop a strong familiarity with other operations’ procedures to provide customized training to mine planning, geology, and resource estimation staff.

§  Under the guidance of the Manager, TSS User Support, constantly improve the documentation, training materials, processes, tools and methodologies used in the support of mine planning, geology, and resource estimation software.

§  Closely monitor the usage of ore control, mine planning, resource modeling, and geologic modeling software at operating sites to improve methodologies, increase efficiencies, transfer best practice solutions, and encourage fundamentals of sound data management.

§  Provide front-line troubleshooting and technical support to the open-pit mine planning, geology, and resource estimation user base on an on-call basis.

§  Technology

§  Assist with site configuration redesigns when needed.  Provide critical review of configuration requests to ensure that industry leading practices are in use where applicable and that the impacts and side effects of configuration changes are clearly understood.

§  Maintain a strong familiarity with in-house and vendor technical software products o provide guidance and technical reviews regarding the applicability of available market solutions within the company.

§  Processes, Standards and Procedures

§  Ensure that appropriate procedures and standards are in use and documented within the TSS user support team and on site, and that these procedures and standards are in compliance with corporate planning, ore control, commodity pricing and other applicable policies and standards.

Secondary Duties and Responsibilities:

§  Document software defects and enhancement requests, and collaborate with software development personnel to continually improve the software solutions.

§  Mentor junior employees in the TSS User Support group and throughout the company to provide challenging opportunities for skill development.

§  Deliver high quality products on time and within budget

 

The above duties and responsibilities are representative of the nature and level of work assigned and are not necessarily all-inclusive.

 

TRAINING & EXPERIENCE

 

The minimum requirements for the job are:

§  Bachelors degree in mining, geology or related Earth sciences field and a minimum of 7 years experience in one or more of the following areas:

Open pit mine planning (pit, dump, stockpile), scheduling and haul road design

Equipment forecasting.

Economic pit limit analysis (LG, Floating Cone) and pit phasing / sequencing.

Ore control and reconciliation.

Geologic field mapping and 3D modelling.

Geostatistics and reserve estimation.

§  High level of competence using geological modelling, resource estimation or mine planning software with a minimum three years’ experience in an open pit setting with a commercial (MineSight, Datamine, Surpac-Gemcom or Vulcan) or in-house (TSS) mine planning system including scripted solutions (e.g., Perl, Python, VB).

§  Varied knowledge of mine methods, mine design, production scheduling, equipment selection, reserve estimation, and mine cost development.

§  Ability to manage and lead small teams effectively and manage projects that involve multiple tasks, objectives, and deadlines.

§  Strong mathematical skills.

§  Strong technical writing skills and ability to gather and document solution requirements.

§  Strong problem solving skills and ability to communicate complex issues clearly and efficiently.

§  Ability to work independently as well as within a team environment

§  Self-motivated with the ability to set and meet deadlines

§  Strong time management and personal organization skills

§  Aptitude to accept additional responsibility to meet the challenges of a growing technical group

 

Desirable additional qualifications are:

§  Experience in differing ore deposits for gold and multi-element base metals.

§  Knowledge of Au and Cu/Au ore body processing.

§  Knowledge of optimal scheduling techniques and cash flow analysis, pit limit and / or mine sequence optimization packages (e.g., Whittle, MineMax, NPVS)

§  Knowledge of the XPAC tactical scheduling package.

§  Experience with the use and configuration of ore control systems.

§  Experience with conditional simulation.

§  Previous experience in a classroom training / teaching environment.

§  Aptitude for foreign languages.

§  Previous overseas work experience.

 

WORKING CONDITIONS

 

The Senior Engineer II, TSS User Support is based at the Inverness office in Englewood, Colorado.  Performance of the work requires travel (30-50% of work time) to domestic and international operations. Travel can be at a moments notice to overseas or domestic locations, including Newmont and Non-Newmont locations and Greenfield areas.