General Foreman - Concentrator Support & MaintenanceLocation:East Boulder Mine - McLeod, MT
Schedule:7X7 Nightshift
Job Responsibilities and Duties:The General Foreman - Concentrator leads the safe, compliant, reliable, and cost-effective operation of the mine-site concentrator, surface haulage, and TSF capping/IBWR placement. The role owns the rolling one- to three-month plan and translates it into resource-ready, executable one-week plans for frontline supervisors. The General Foreman anticipates and removes constraints, coordinates operating and maintenance dependencies, develops supervisors and employees, and holds the department accountable for throughput, recovery, concentrate quality, equipment availability, process stability, environmental performance, TSF project schedule adherence, and cost.
The General Foreman's primary duties are:
- Set concentrator safety, health, and environmental priorities for the one- to three-month planning horizon based on operating risk, incidents, inspections, audit findings, equipment condition, process changes, and planned work.
- Ensure one-week plans include required hazards, permits, procedures, qualifications, isolations, environmental controls, and emergency-response requirements.
- Ensure work complies with MSHA requirements, environmental permits, company standards, Critical Task Analyses, Standard Operating Procedures, and applicable training requirements.
- Confirm employees and contractors have the tools, training, qualifications, procedures, and supervision required for upcoming work.
- Establish clear expectations, decision authority, and escalation requirements for concentrator supervisors and other direct reports.
- Hold supervisors accountable for translating approved one-week plans into daily and shift assignments and for safe, disciplined field execution.
- Maintain an appropriately staffed and qualified workforce by addressing vacancies, attendance, leave, overtime, training, relief coverage, and contractor needs across the planning horizon.
- Apply performance, attendance, conduct, labor-relations, and employment practices consistently with company policy and the applicable Collective Bargaining Agreement.
- Establish and maintain operating standards for crushing, conveying, grinding, classification, flotation, reagent addition, slurry transfer, thickening, filtration, concentrate handling, water systems, and related process areas.
- Coordinate equipment access, shutdowns, start-ups, commissioning, return to service, and production impacts with maintenance, metallurgy, engineering, operations, and support functions.
- Authorize significant changes to weekly priorities, staffing, equipment allocation, overtime, contractor use, break-in work, and temporary operating arrangements within delegated authority.
- Own and lead development of the annual concentrator operating budget, establishing credible assumptions and requirements for labor, overtime, reagents, grinding media, operating supplies, contractors, consumables, equipment usage, energy, water, and other departmental costs.
- Manage resources within approved budgets and hold supervisors accountable for responsible use of labor, equipment, materials, energy, water, reagents, and contractors.
- Monitor the cost and production effects of downtime, reduced recovery, quality deviations, process instability, rework, excessive consumption, and unplanned work.
- Evaluate forecast accuracy and weekly performance against the one- to three-month plan; assign actions for variances in safety, throughput, recovery, quality, availability, consumption, and cost.
- Maintain effective communication of plant status, future risks, constraints, work in progress, and required follow-up across shifts and departments.
Qualifications and Skills:- Concentrator operations and the interaction of crushing, conveying, grinding, classification, flotation, reagent systems, slurry transport, thickening, filtration, concentrate handling, water management, and related utilities.
- Fundamental mineral-processing and metallurgical concepts, including throughput, recovery, grade, mass balance, particle size, density, reagent control, residence time, and process variability.
- Critical thinking, judgement, and problem-solving
- Leadership and communication skills.
- Ability to interpret process trends, metallurgical results, production schedules, technical drawings, procedures, specifications, and equipment records.
- MSHA requirements and site standards governing safety, environmental compliance, energy isolation, employee training, examinations, incidents, contractors, and operating practices.
- Process-control systems, alarms, trends, instrumentation, operating-data interpretation, environmental controls, annual operating-budget development, cost control, financial forecasting, workforce planning, labor relations, and contractor management.
Education & Experience- High school diploma or equivalent.
- Five or more years of progressive concentrator, mineral-processing, metallurgical, or closely related heavy-industrial operations experience.
- At least two years of experience leading employees as a frontline supervisor or equivalent operational leader.
- Working knowledge of concentrator processes and associated equipment, including crushing, grinding, flotation, slurry systems, thickening, filtration, concentrate handling, and water systems.
- Experience working under mine or industrial safety, environmental, energy-isolation, and operating-procedure
- Associate or bachelor's degree in metallurgy, mineral processing, chemical engineering, mining engineering, mechanical engineering, operations management, or a related field preferred.
- Demonstrated experience developing annual operating budgets, establishing resource and cost assumptions, allocating resources, reviewing performance, and responding to processes, equipment, or financial constraints preferred.
- Experience using JDE, SAP, Oracle, a distributed-control or process-control system, historian software, or another production and asset-management platform preferred.
