Principal Geologist

Our client is a state-owned mining company in Oman and established under the Oman Investment Authority (OIA) with the principal mandate to drive the monetisation of the country's mineral resources.

Our client develops projects across the mining value chain, from upstream exploration through downstream processing, directly and through its subsidiaries and joint ventures. The portfolio covers strategic minerals found in Oman - metallic minerals such as copper, gold and chromite, and industrial minerals such as dolomite, limestone, silica, gypsum and laterite - alongside a growing international exploration footprint.

We are seeking a highly capable, field-oriented Principal Geologist for its Base & Precious Metals division to lead exploration programmes that identify, test and advance copper-gold, chromite and associated base metal deposits in Oman's under-explored geological terranes, and to support our client's international exploration portfolio.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role, not a desk-based one.

The successful candidate will spend a substantial proportion of their time in the field - mapping, logging, supervising drilling and sampling campaigns, and setting the technical standard for the crews working alongside them. Reporting to the Director of Exploration Execution, the Principal Geologist will apply deep expertise in prospect generation, target maturation and the evaluation of greenfield and brownfield projects, taking targets from concept through to drill-tested and, where warranted, resource definition.

The role also provides technical support to the Business Development (BD) and Project Development (PD) teams across scoping, pre-feasibility, feasibility, project assessment, remediation and closure phases, and carries direct responsibility for mentoring and building the capability of geologists.

• Personally lead and supervise field exploration activities, setting the standard for technical quality, safety and data discipline on site.
• Undertake and direct geological mapping at prospect to district scale, including structural, lithological and alteration mapping, trenching and outcrop logging.
• Design and supervise rock chip, channel, soil, stream sediment and pXRF sampling programmes, ensuring representative sampling and full chain of custody.
• Supervise RC and diamond drilling campaigns on site: rig supervision, geological and geotechnical logging, core orientation, density determination, sampling and dispatch.
• Own field QA/QC - insertion and monitoring of standards, blanks and duplicates, laboratory submissions, results validation and corrective action where performance falls outside limits.
• Ensure all field data is captured, validated and loaded to the corporate database (MX Deposit) to company's data standards, with no unresolved validation errors.

• Generate, rank and mature exploration targets by integrating geological mapping, geochemistry, ground and airborne geophysics, remote sensing and historical data.
• Prepare drill-ready target packages with documented geological rationale, ranking criteria, expected tonnage-grade range and testing strategy.
• Plan and execute regional and prospect-scale programmes, including scheduling, resourcing, logistics and permitting.
• Prepare annual exploration programmes and budgets and support the Director of Exploration Execution and CXO in budget preparation, forecasting and expenditure tracking against plan.
• Manage drilling, geophysical, survey, assay and consultancy contractors - scopes of work, technical evaluation of bids, supervision and performance management.

• Build and maintain geological and mineralisation domain…