Planning Specialist

Midana Exploration Company (MEC) is a resource exploration and development company and a subsidiary of Australia’s leading private mining enterprise, Hancock Prospecting. Operating at the forefront of the Middle East’s rapidly expanding mining sector, MEC is dedicated to unlocking the vast mineral potential of the highly prospective Arabian-Nubian Shield.

Our core focus is to rapidly and safely transition high-potential exploration targets into world-class operational mining assets. We achieve this by combining Hancock Prospecting’s demonstrated track record in exploration,mega-project delivery, technology, and operational excellence with deep local partnerships. Through our landmark joint ventures with highly regarded Saudi resource companies, and our own targeted exploration prospects, we are developing a new benchmark for resource development while also actively contributing to the development of the resource sector in Saudi.

The Planning Specialist will provide planning, cost, schedule and reporting consistency across all exploration programs, giving the Exploration VP a single, reliable view of progress, spend, commitments, forecast and risk without diluting technical accountability.

• Build integrated work plans across Generative Exploration / Evaluation and Advanced-Stage Exploration, linking scope, sequencing, key dependencies, resource needs and decision gates.
• Support annual planning, monthly forecasting and long-term budget scenarios; maintain a consolidated exploration schedule and milestone view.
• Develop and maintain a practical work-breakdown structure and baseline logic that links approved scope, schedule activities, commitments and reporting codes.
• Track critical path, near-critical activities, field constraints and contractor dependencies; flag slippage early and support recovery or re-sequencing options.

• Track budgets, commitments, actual spend, contractor deliverables and schedule performance across the portfolio.
• Prepare variance and trend analysis explaining deviations, expected impact and corrective actions rather than reporting numbers alone.
• Maintain rolling forecasts at completion and support disciplined change control so approved scope or timing changes are reflected in the current plan and forecast.

• Coordinate cross-functional inputs from geology, logistics, data, finance and external consultants into a consistent reporting cycle.
• Maintain action registers, risk logs, decision records and key planning assumptions for the exploration portfolio.
• Develop concise dashboards showing schedule status, cost/commitment position, forecast, key risks and milestone performance for leadership review.
• Apply earned-value or equivalent integrated cost/schedule performance measures only where the maturity and data quality of the work program justify them.
• Produce weekly updates, monthly progress reports and external reporting for exploration program.

• 7+ years in planning, cost and schedule coordination in mining, exploration, industrial or major field-program environments.
• Demonstrated experience tracking budgets, contractor performance, schedule dependencies, risk and reporting cycles.
• Experience working with technical teams where priorities change as new geological information is received.
• Prior exploration or mining planning/reporting experience strongly preferred.

• Relevant tertiary qualification in planning, engineering, finance, business, project controls or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Formal training in planning, scheduling or cost control preferred.
• Professional credentials such as AACE PSP/CCP,…