Drilling Supervisor

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:

Drilling 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, prioritise and assign drilling tasks for completion to meet blasting target goals.
• Prepare 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 Executive 

• 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.
• Coordinate and pair the drilling crew with the relevant equipment required to execute tasks.
• Undertake safety inspections of the drilling work sites, before, during and after drilling activities.
• 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 such as:
• areas to be drilled.
• areas to be developed.
• rate of development required.
• distribution of labour, supplies and equipment.
• 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 Foreperson – 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.

Additional Responsibilities:

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.
• Verify that all Newmont health and safety principles are upheld by 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.
• Attend monthly safety inspection and meetings.
   

Staff Supervision

• Create a suitable shift work environment to motivate Operators to achieve optimum effectiveness and productivity.
• Supervise all direct reports by:
  • participating in the recruitment and selection of staff.
  • recommending the selection of new staff. 
  • conducting crew assessments.
  • developing the team to perform at their best capabilities.
  • contributing to performance appraisals.
  • participating in team performance management calibrations.
  • recommending further/relevant training courses and development actions in accordance with Newmont’s people development program(s).
  • implementing training schedules for staff.
  • coaching and mentoring staff.
  • disciplining poor performance or actions.
  • enhancing communication with staff through regular feedback, contact, meetings and briefings.

Your Training, Skills and Experience Checklist

Formal Qualification (including Professional Registrations):

• Requires a bachelors’ degree in Mine/Civil Engineering, Geology or related field.

Additional Knowledge:

• Mine Foreman Certificate.
• 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 be in a shift supervisory capacity. 
• Experience of delivering grade control and exploratory drilling operations.

Technical Skills:

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

Behavioural Attributes:

• Accuracy.
• Directive.
• Motivational.
• Results driven.
• Persuasion.
• Decisive 
• Safety conscious.
• Team player.

Working Conditions

• The position is located in the Ahafo North mine site.