Mining Engineers
Plan and direct the engineering aspects of locating and extracting minerals, petroleum and natural gas from the earth.
Wet weather and a haul road
You are a mining engineer on a site where heavy overnight rain has softened the main haul road to the pit, and the production plan is behind. It is 5:30am. The rain has stopped but the road is wet and rutted. The morning meeting starts in half an hour, and the pressure to get trucks moving is already building.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
The road is soft in two places and the trucks are slipping a bit. We are well behind on tonnage this week. I can start running at reduced speed, or we can wait for the grader to fix it. What do you reckon?
Let the trucks run at reduced speed, since it saves the production plan
The trucks run, then one slides near the edge of the road and the shift is shut down. The delay is far longer than if you had waited for the grader.
Hold the trucks on the worst sections until the grader and a road inspection are done, and move the diggers to a dry area meanwhile
The grader fixes the road within a few hours and the diggers keep working on dry ground. You lose some output, but nobody is at risk and the plan recovers.
Stop all work on site until the road is fully repaired
Nobody is hurt, but the whole site stops for most of the day when only part of it needed to. Careful is good, and so is working out what can safely carry on.
The board is looking at this month's numbers and we are behind. I need you to rework the plan so we catch up. Could you bring the next blast forward and mine the faster section first? It would help the figures.
Look at which changes would be safe and show Helen what can be caught up, and what cannot
You show her a plan that recovers part of the gap safely and explains the rest. Helen takes the honest numbers to the board. Mine plans should be both ambitious and honest.
Rebuild the plan to hit the numbers, without checking the safety conditions for the faster section
The numbers look good for a month. Then a review finds that the faster section has unstable ground, and the whole schedule has to be redone with a safety investigation attached.
Tell her it can't be done and leave it there
You may be right, but she needed options. She asks someone else to make a plan, who may be less careful than you would have been.
I have been looking at the new drill samples, and the ore grade in the planned area is lower than the model suggested. I am not completely sure, but I think we should talk about it before the plan is locked in.
Ask her to show you the samples, review them together and bring in more data before anything changes
The extra review takes a few days, and it turns out Ruth is partly right. The delay was uncomfortable, but you did not plan around a wrong number.
Thank her and ask to see the data, then book a short meeting with the planning team today
The team looks at the data and agrees to adjust the plan before the area is mined. Ruth feels respected, and you have avoided a costly mistake.
Tell her the model has been checked already and the plan will stay exactly as it is for now
The plan goes ahead. The lower grade shows up in the first weeks and the area earns far less than expected, and everyone asks why she was not heard.
How it went
The trucks are running again on a repaired road, the plan has been honestly adjusted and the geologist's data has been heard. Mining engineers balance production, safety and the facts of the ground, often in remote places with long shifts. Does that mix of planning and practical decisions appeal to you?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The blast notice for the station neighbour
A fictional case set in a mine site in outback Australia, with a planning office, a pit and a camp.
The situation
Jun was a mining engineer planning blasts at an open pit near the Hartley sheep station. The pit was growing closer to the station boundary, and the owner, Mr Dunstan, had complained about dust and noise. The mine had been giving him notice by email, but he rarely checked it. A large blast was planned for Tuesday, right in the middle of his lambing season. Jun's manager said that the mine had followed the rules and sent the notice, so there was nothing more to do.
What they did
Jun drove out to the station with the blast plan and a map, and sat with Mr Dunstan in the kitchen. She explained what was planned, when and how it would be managed. She asked which paddocks held the ewes and heard that the lambs were due soon. They agreed to move the blast time and she changed the schedule to avoid the loudest period. She also agreed to give him a phone call before every large blast from then on.
How it turned out
The blast went ahead later that week with no complaint. Mr Dunstan still raised other concerns about dust, but the conversations became easier. Jun's manager said the call had saved weeks of arguments, though it had also meant rearranging the schedule.
What would you do?
- What is the difference between following the rules and doing the right thing?
- How would you have started a conversation with Mr Dunstan?
- Why might a mine be glad to have good relations with its neighbours?