Drill Supervisor - Newmont Mining Corporation

Newmont Mining Corporation is a leading global gold producer with key assets in Nevada, Peru, Australia, Ghana and Suriname.Newmont’s Africa Operations holds two gold mining operations in Ghana: the Ahafo Mine located in the Brong-Ahafo region and the Akyem Mine located in the Eastern region. There is also near mine exploration and development focus in Ghana to annually replace gold reserves. Newmont Africa also has early-stage exploration programs in the African countries of Ethiopia and Morocco.

Our Africa operations employ approximately 5,900 employees and contractors, with the majority working at the Ahafo Mine. We offer an unparalleled blend of opportunity and career satisfaction with all the benefits you would expect from a global company. This, combined with our growth opportunities, makes Newmont a great company to work.

Our Akyem and Ahafo mines have made significant sustainable community development investments in our host communities. These include establishing Development Funds at our Akyem and Ahafo operational areas with each mine contributing US$1 per ounce of gold sold and 1% of net pre-tax annual profit into its community development fund.

The only gold company listed in the S&P 500 index, Newmont in 2007 became the first gold company selected to be part of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. Newmont’s industry-leading performance is reflected through our Africa operations’ high standards in environmental management, health and safety for our workforce and creating value and opportunity for our employees, host communities and Newmont’s shareholders.

About This Role

• To coordinate, direct and lead blast hole drilling activities, in a safe manner, and coordinate resource allocations to effectively complete the activities.

In This Role You WillDrilling Operations Planning

• Execute short, medium and long-term mine drilling plans.
• Implement goals, objectives, policies, procedures and work standards for the area.
• Oversee and coordinate the weekly plan for the initiating of drilling schedules.
• Coordinate, prioritize and assign drilling tasks for completion to meet blasting target goals.
• Prepare the drill pattern for blasting and conduct final priority drilling inspection.
• Conduct pre-drilling risk assessments on drilling areas to provide assurance on the safety of all equipment and staff, and to prevent the possible rock fall and / or collapse.
• Send all drilling requisition requests to the General Foreman for review and obtain sign-off from both the General Foreman and Mine Manager.

Drill Operations Execution

• Receive guidance from the General Foreman – Drill and Blast for optimal drilling locations.
• Install physical critical controls (i.e. demarcations, flags, cones) and make sure that all are in place, prior to drilling.
• Obtain survey limits from the relevant stakeholders to determine drill sites.
• Schedule and supervise all drilling activities, by overseeing and evaluating works-in-progress and assure that all activities meet quality control standards, specifications, codes and regulations.
• Identify opportunities for both short, medium and long-term interval controls, based on the drilling plan, and make any necessary adjustments and changes to the shift, to meet daily target projections.
• Oversee all drilling activities.
• Oversee all contractors assigned to designated drilling work areas within the department.
• Provide technical guidance and transfer of knowledge to the drill crew through active coaching and mentoring on drill techniques.
• Examine the extent to which issued instructions are being followed and escalate any non-adherences to the General Foreman.
• Hold drilling crew accountable for the work completed by:
  • Administering discipline and facilitating corrective actions
  • Monitoring crew KPI’s, specifically QA / QC.
  • Explaining the drilling plan to the crew and providing clear instructions.
  • Implementing continuous improvement initiatives.
  • Managing shift changeovers between crews.
• Analyse daily drill production to confirm that the department is operating within overall blasting production.
• Work to decrease the overall cost of drilling activities by reducing any unnecessary delays and increasing the provision of consumables.
• Coordinate the maintenance of drill equipment with the Maintenance Department.
• Provide feedback reports regarding drilling activities to the General Foreman – Drill and Blast for review.
• Complete drill logs and load sheets, in accordance with Newmont policies.
• Maintain accurate records and archives of all drilling activities.

Blast Optimization and Continuous Improvement

• Suggest opportunities for continuous improvement of drilling activities.
• Report and escalate all accidents and incidents occurring in the shift to the General Foreman – Drill and Blast for immediate review.

Stakeholder Management and Engagement

• Coordinate with Supply Chain to procure and keep raw consumable stock levels up to date.
• Coordinate with Mine Maintenance to assure that maintenance requirements are reported timeously and to secure maintenance equipment availability.
• Communicate with Dispatch regarding the capturing of drilling delays in the JIGSAW system for updating real-time consumable information for better future planning and continuous improvement purposes.
• Coordinate activities with all departments to ensure continuity of the total mine operation.
• Obtain suggestions from other Newmont departments, in identifying opportunities for improving drilling efficiency and productivity.
• Liaise with the Training Department to arrange the receipt of training schedules and times for the national workforce.
• Oversee that drilling shift work meets established statutory standards.

Health and Safety Management

• Verify that the demarcated drill areas are safe and secure to promote worker health and safety.
• Adhere strictly to internal Newmont health and safety standards.
• Comply with safe drilling procedures for both Newmont and contractor staff.
• Accept personal responsibility for the health and safety of every employee under or assigned to his / her supervision.
• Provide hands-on assistance during operations activities and ensure that safe work practices are followed by the Operators.
• Coordinate the inspection of drill areas on a consistent basis to detect and resolve immediate safety, personnel and production problems.
• Revert to the Engineering team to potentially change shift plans for a particular area, arising out of work hazard detection.
• Conduct periodic safety meetings and safety inspections.
• Lead daily pre-shift staff debriefings.

Staff Supervision

• Create a suitable shift work environment to motivate Operators to achieve optimum effectiveness and productivity.
• Supervise all direct reports.

Your Training, Skills & Experience ChecklistFormal Qualification (including Professional Registrations):

• Bachelors’ Degree in Mine / Civil Engineering, Geology or related field.
• Blasting and Mine Foreman Certificate from the Inspectorate Division of Minerals Commission.

Additional Knowledge

• Detailed knowledge of safety management systems.
• Detailed knowledge in drilling accessories.
• General knowledge in heavy equipment operation.

Experience

• Minimum of 4 – 5 years’ drilling and blasting experience in large open pit mining environments, of which at least 2 – 3 years’ experience should have been in a shift supervisory capacity.
• Experience of delivering grade control and exploratory drilling operations.

Technical Skills

• Advanced planning, organizing and prioritizing skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong technical communication (written and verbal) and interpersonal skills.
• Strong computer literacy skills – MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook), MS Project and SAP
• Strong information monitoring and management skills.
• Strong presentation skills.
• Strong facilitation and consultation skills.
• Strong negotiation and conflict resolution skills.
• Strong supervisory skills.
• Strong coaching and mentoring skills.
• Ability to adapt to constant shift changes.

Behavioural Attributes

• Accuracy.
• Approachable.
• Customer focused.
• Decisive.
• Detail oriented.
• Directive.
• Flexibility.
• Goal oriented.
• Initiating.
• Judgment.
• Leadership.
• Pro-active.
• Reliable and Independent.
• Results driven.
• Safety conscious.
• Self-motivated.
• Team player.