The Short-Range Mining Engineer is responsible for developing and maintaining rolling mine plans spanning from monthly to 12-month horizons, with a focus on operational accuracy, geotechnical soundness, and production efficiency, within an open-pit copper mine that processes sulfide ore. This role translates mid-range planning objectives into detailed, executable designs that guide daily production activities. Reporting directly to the Chief Mining Engineer, the Mining Engineer works cross-functionally with Geology, Survey, Operations, and Processing Teams to generate practical bench layouts, material routing strategies, and shovel-ready instructions that support safe and continuous production. The ideal candidate will possess a strong understanding of mine planning systems, short-term sequencing, and field-level operational constraints, ensuring plans are both technically sound and operationally executable. Rotation and cross-training within other mine planning roles is expected.
Key Responsibilities:
- Develop and maintain a rolling short-range mine plan (1 to 12 months) that aligns with mid-range strategies, production goals, and operational constraints.
- Design and sequence pit advances, including bench layouts, dig polygons, ore control boundaries, and blast patterns, ensuring alignment with geotechnical, operational, and safety requirements.
- Design and coordinate closely with the Drill and Blast team to define burden, spacing, timing, and initiation designs that optimize fragmentation, minimize dilution, and reduce ore loss, which are executable.
- Collaborate with Mine Geology to ensure accurate grade boundaries, reconciliation inputs, and material classification are incorporated into dig plans and routing instructions.
- Prepare detailed material movement plans, including routing of sulfide ores to crushers and stockpiles, ensuring delivery of the correct material type and blend.
- Generate shovel instructions, blast release maps, and haulage plans, and communicate these effectively to Mine Operations and Controllers.
- Monitor plan execution, validate against survey pickups, and make timely adjustments for real-world conditions such as ground control issues, equipment availability, or changing priorities.
- Utilize Hexagon MinePlan 3D, Activity Scheduler, and haulage tools to model, visualize, and update mine plans and track performance against targets.
- Participate in daily and weekly operations meetings, reporting on short-term forecast accuracy, compliance, and corrective actions as needed.
- Contribute to the monthly forecast, budget updates, and production analysis by providing data-driven updates and reconciliation support.
- Work collaboratively and cross-train with Mid-Range and Long-Range Engineers to ensure planning continuity and feedback on plan execution.
- Maintain clear documentation of assumptions, changes, and plan decisions for operational transparency and continuous improvement.
Preferred Qualifications
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Mining Engineering or related discipline
- Minimum 2 years of experience in open pit mine engineering or operations
- Proficient in Hexagon MinePlan 3D, including Planner or Activity Scheduler, MPSO, Haulage, and short-range design tools
- Strong understanding of open pit mining operations, drill and blast practices, ore control, and material logistics
- Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and interface effectively with field and technical teams
- Strong analytical, communication, and problem-solving skills
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Mining Engineering or related discipline
- Minimum 2 years of experience in open pit mine engineering or operations
- Proficient in Hexagon MinePlan 3D (Planner or Activity Scheduler), MPSO, Haulage, and short-range design tools
- Strong understanding of open pit mining operations, drill and blast practices, ore control, and material logistics
- Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and interface effectively with field and technical teams
- Strong analytical, communication, and problem-solving skills
Asarco Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Asarco and has not been reviewed or approved by Asarco.
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Affordable Benefits — Benefits are positioned as “low-cost,” and there are indications of reduced employee health-care contributions for covered roles. Time-off enhancements are also described as part of recent agreement changes, improving total rewards value for some groups.
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Retirement Support — A 401(k) plan with a company match is described as part of the standard package. Match levels are portrayed as potentially strong, though details appear to vary by role or contract.
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Pay Growth & Progression — Material wage increases are described under a newly ratified multi-year union agreement, with large raises reported for some job categories. This suggests improved near-term earnings trajectory for employees covered by the latest contract.
Asarco Insights
What We Do
Grupo Mexico is a transnational mining company with operations in the U.S., Mexico and Peru. ASARCO (American Smelting and Refining Company), the U.S. based subsidiary of Grupo Mexico, is an integrated copper mining, smelting and refining company with approximately 1,700 employees. The company operates three mines, associated mills and smelter in Arizona and a refinery complex in Texas, which includes plants that produce copper cathode & rod.
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