Strata Control Officer -Limpopo-Phalaborwa

Rio Tinto is a leading international mining group headquartered in the UK. Rio Tinto's business is finding, mining and processing mineral resources. Major products are aluminium, copper, diamonds, energy (coal and uranium), gold, industrial minerals (borax, titanium dioxide, salt, talc) and iron ore. Activities span the world but are strongly represented in Australia and North America with businesses in South America, Asia, Europe and Southern Africa. For more information, please visit www.riotinto.com.

Palabora Mining Company, a member of the Rio Tinto Group, is situated in the Ba - Phalaborwa area of Limpopo and is the only major copper producer from an open pit mine in the area. We also produce anode slimes, magnetite, sulphuric acid, and vermiculite. We are a profitable and sustainable copper operation boasting a safe working environment, reputable performance management system and solid people development strategy. Phalaborwa itself, situated near Kruger National Park, delivers a well balanced lifestyle and was voted the cleanest and safest municipality 2006 / 2007.

The Strata Control Officer will be responsible for ground condition assessments, monitoring, design, recommendations and quality control of underground excavation support. He/she will also be responsible for training strata control aspects to the mining crew. Responsibilities will include:

• Geotechnical mapping, rockmass classification and damage mapping as input and calibration data for numerical modelling and to assist in design functions.
• Ground condition assessments and recommendations including quality control.
• Ensuring adherence to SHEQ and rock mechanics standards and to create procedures and standards as required.
• Installation, maintenance, monitoring and interpretation of underground and surface instrumentation including seismic system and to take corrective actions and provide solutions for problem areas.
• Training the mining crew on strata control

Intrinsic Qualities

• Sound understanding of geotechnical issues pertaining to underground mining
• Good understanding of hard-rock, design of excavations and support systems.
• Good communication skills
• Ability to fault find and provide guidance to problem solving .
• Leadership and supervisory skills.
• Proficient in MS Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)

• Chamber of Mines Strata Control Certificate
• Three years in a hard-rock, underground mining environment
• Computer literate (using PC and UNUX operating systems or experience with seismic systems)
• Previous experience with seismic and numerical modelling software's will be advantageous.

Strata Control Officer -Full-time SA-Limpopo-Phalaborwa