The OpportunityThe Underground Operations General Supervisor is responsible for leading and coordinating underground mining activities to achieve safe, efficient, and productive gold ore extraction in accordance with the mine plan, operating standards, and applicable regulatory requirements.
This position provides direct leadership to underground supervisors, mining crews, contractors, and support personnel. The General Supervisor is accountable for the safe execution of daily production activities, workforce performance, equipment utilization, ground control practices, ore development and extraction, and effective coordination between Mining, Engineering, Geology, Maintenance, Safety, and other site functions.
The successful candidate will demonstrate strong underground mining experience, sound operational judgment, visible safety leadership, and the ability to manage multiple production priorities in a dynamic mining environment.
Responsibilities- Provide overall leadership and direction for underground mining operations across assigned shifts, crews, mining areas, or production zones.
- Ensure underground production activities are conducted safely, efficiently, and in accordance with the approved mine plan.
- Establish daily and weekly production priorities and communicate clear expectations to supervisors and crews.
- Monitor production performance against planned targets for development, stoping, ore production, ground support, mucking, hauling, and related activities.
- Coordinate underground development and production activities to maintain sufficient mining faces and ore availability.
- Ensure mining activities are sequenced appropriately to support the short-, medium-, and long-term mine plans.
- Supervise and develop underground supervisors and frontline leaders, providing coaching, performance feedback, and accountability.
- Ensure employees and contractors understand and comply with site safety policies, procedures, standards, and applicable mining regulations.
- Maintain a strong field presence underground and promote a culture in which safety is treated as an operational priority.
- Identify and address unsafe conditions, work practices, hazards, and operational risks before they result in incidents.
- Ensure appropriate ground-control practices are followed, including scaling, ground support, rehabilitation, barring, and workplace inspections.
- Coordinate with Mine Engineering and Geology regarding development headings, stope sequencing, ore boundaries, dilution, ore loss, and changing ground conditions.
- Work closely with Maintenance to maximize the availability and reliability of underground mobile and fixed equipment.
- Monitor equipment utilization, availability, productivity, and operating condition and take corrective action when performance falls below expectations.
- Coordinate personnel, equipment, materials, services, and contractors to minimize operational delays and production interruptions.
- Ensure proper ventilation, dewatering, communications, access, and other critical underground infrastructure are maintained.
- Monitor blasting and explosives-related activities to ensure they are performed by appropriately qualified personnel and in accordance with mine procedures and regulatory requirements.
- Ensure ore and waste are correctly identified, handled, transported, and reported to support accurate production and grade control.
- Review shift reports, production data, equipment reports, inspection findings, and other operational information to identify trends and opportunities for improvement.
- Investigate production variances and implement corrective actions to improve productivity, cycle times, equipment utilization, and overall operational performance.
- Participate in incident and near-miss investigations and ensure corrective actions are implemented and sustained.
- Maintain effective communication between shifts to ensure continuity of operations and transfer of critical information.
- Participate in mine planning, budgeting, forecasting, workforce planning, and production scheduling activities.
- Manage operating costs within the assigned area and identify opportunities to improve cost efficiency without compromising safety or production requirements.
- Ensure compliance with environmental, regulatory, permitting, and company requirements applicable to underground mining operations.
- Maintain accurate operational records and ensure required reports are completed in a timely manner.
- Support continuous improvement initiatives involving mining methods, production systems, equipment utilization, workforce productivity, and operational reliability.
- Lead or participate in emergency response activities and ensure underground personnel are familiar with emergency procedures, evacuation requirements, and mine rescue protocols.
- Build effective working relationships with Engineering, Geology, Maintenance, Processing, Safety, Training, Supply Chain, and other departments.
- Promote employee development, succession planning, and competency improvement within the underground operations team.
- Perform other duties and responsibilities as required to support safe and effective mine operations.
The above responsibilities are representative and may not include all assigned duties.
Education and Experience- High school diploma or equivalent required.
- Must be able to obtain ATF clearance.
- Current training/certification in underground mine safety, emergency response, first aid/CPR, and other site-required competencies.
- Additional training in mine ventilation, ground control, blasting/explosives, risk management, or mine safety is highly desirable.
- Experience with incident investigations, hazard identification, and risk management.
- 8-10+ years of progressive underground hard-rock mining experience, preferably in a gold-mining environment.
- 3-5+ years of demonstrated supervisory or management experience in underground mining operations.
- Proven experience supervising underground production and/or development activities.
- Strong working knowledge of underground mining methods, including applicable methods such as longhole open stoping, drift-and-fill, or other methods appropriate to the operation.
- Demonstrated experience with underground development, production drilling, blasting, mucking, hauling, ground support, and stope operations.
- Experience working with underground mobile equipment such as LHDs, haul trucks, development jumbos, bolters, longhole drills, service equipment, and related machinery.
- Experience interpreting mine plans, production schedules, engineering drawings, geological information, and operational reports.
- Demonstrated understanding of ground-control principles and underground geotechnical risks.
- Experience working with mine production KPIs, budgets, cost controls, productivity measures, and continuous improvement programs.
- Experience managing contractors and/or multiple underground crews is strongly preferred.
- Experience in mechanized underground hard-rock mining is highly desirable.
- Experience working in a high-risk industrial environment with strict safety and regulatory requirements.
- Demonstrated ability to make sound operational decisions under changing ground, equipment, production, and workforce conditions.
