Senior Mine Engineer - Drill and Blast

Location: Red Dog Mine, AK, United States
Employment Type: Regular Full Time
Workplace Type: On-site

About Red Dog

Red Dog Operations is both the largest critical minerals mine in the United States and one of the largest zinc mines in the world. In 1982, Red Dog was developed through a partnership between Teck and the land-owner NANA, an Alaska Native corporation owned by the Iñupiat of northwest Alaska. The partnership between Teck and NANA ensures real benefits for the local Iñupiat community, while recognizing there is still more to do as we advance our commitment to sustainable practices and meaningful engagement.

Reporting to the Principal Mine Engineer the Senior Mine Engineer - Drill & Blast provides technical leadership and subject matter expertise for drilling and blasting at Red Dog Operations. The role is accountable for improving D&B design, governance, field execution and performance while developing sustainable technical capability within the Mine Technical team. The Senior Mine Engineer will coach and mentor engineers responsible for D&B activities, drive implementation of standards and improvement initiatives, and work closely with Operations and technical disciplines to translate engineering into safe, efficient and predictable blast outcomes

Rotational Schedule will be 2 weeks on-site with 2 weeks off-site

• Act as the site technical subject matter expert for Drill & Blast, providing technical leadership, review and assurance for blast design, complex conditions and higher-risk blasting activities
• Coach, mentor and develop Mine Engineers performing D&B work through structured technical training, design review and field coaching to build sustainable site capability
• Establish and maintain D&B engineering standards, design criteria, procedures, QA/QC requirements and technical governance to ensure consistent design, execution practices, performance and outcomes
• Lead the design and optimization of drill patterns, explosive loading, initiation and timing, wall control and other blast parameters based on geological, geotechnical and operational conditions
• Lead field QA/QC, design-to-execution reconciliation and blast performance analysis, using fragmentation, diggability, floor control, dilution, blast movement and other performance measures to drive continuous improvement
• Work closely with Geotechnical Engineering and other technical disciplines to manage wall control, ground hazards, reactive ground and other complex blasting conditions
• Collaborate with Mine Planning, Operations, Geology, Geotechnical, Survey and Mine Systems to ensure D&B constraints, priorities and blast inventory are appropriately incorporated into mine plans and execution
• Lead D&B coordination, blast review and continuous improvement processes, ensuring learnings, root causes and corrective actions are incorporated into future designs and work practices
• Drive technical trials and implementation of D&B technologies and improvement initiatives, including drill data utilization, fragmentation monitoring, blast modelling, electronic initiation and other emerging technologies
• Support optimization of overall mining performance and cost by evaluating the relationship between drilling, blasting, highwall response, fragmentation, loading performance and downstream impacts
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  Work with explosives suppliers, vendors, consultants and corporate specialists to resolve technical issues, evaluate opportunities and maintain alignment with regulatory requirements and industry good practice
• Support technical investigations, risk assessments and reviews associated with blasting incidents, unexpected outcomes and D&B-related operational risks
• Lead and maintain continuity of D&B improvement initiatives, ensuring projects, performance monitoring programs, technical trials and key action items progress consistently across rotational schedules and changing operational priorities.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

• Bachelor's Degree in Mining Engineering or a related engineering discipline
• Minimum eight years (8) years of significant technical and operational experience in Drill & Blast within open-pit mining operations, underground drill and blast experience is considered an asset
• Advanced capability in drill and blast design, explosives and initiation systems, wall control techniques and practices, field execution, Mine to Mill initiatives and overall drill and blast optimization
• Experience with drill and blast QA/QC, vibration monitoring and analysis, reconciliation, fragmentation and overall performance monitoring and continuous improvement
• Demonstrated experience coaching, mentoring and technically developing engineers and operational personnel
• Demonstrated experience with D&B design and analysis software such as Shot Plus, BlastIQ, Deswik and similar applications
• Experience working with electronic initiation systems, fragmentation monitoring systems, drill data analysis and blast modelling
• Strong analytical,…